Radio is such a perfect medium for the transmission of poetry, primarily because there just is the voice, there's no visual distraction. Billy Collins distractionmediumperfect Change image and share on social
I'm pretty much all for poetry in public places - poetry on buses, poetry on subways, on billboards, on cereal boxes. Billy Collins billboardboxbuse Change image and share on social
I'm a nearly uncontrollable Geoff Dyer fan, who I think is one of the most comically brilliant writers today. Billy Collins brilliantcomicallydyer Change image and share on social
I'm trying to write poems that involve beginning at a known place, and ending up at a slightly different place. I'm trying to take a little journey from one place to another, and it's usually from a realistic place, to a place in the imagination. Billy Collins beginendimagination share on social
Attempts to put my poems to music have had disastrous results in all cases. And the poem, if it's written with the ear, already has been set to its own verbal music as it was composed. Billy Collins attemptcasecompose Change image and share on social
Poetry is my cheap means of transportation. By the end of the poem the reader should be in a different place from where he started. I would like him to be slightly disoriented at the end, like I drove him outside of town at night and dropped him off in a cornfield. Billy Collins cheapcornfielddisorient share on social
Some honor Cummings as the granddaddy of all American innovators in poetry and ascribe to him a diverse progeny that includes virtually any poet who considers the page a field and allows silence to be part of poetry's expressiveness. Billy Collins americanascribeconsider share on social
I'm very aware of the presence of a reader, and that probably is a reaction against a lot of poems that I do read which seem oblivious to my presence as a reader. Billy Collins awarelotoblivious Change image and share on social
I think more influential than Emily Dickinson or Coleridge or Wordsworth on my imagination were Warner Brothers, Merrie Melodies, and Loony Tunes cartoons. Billy Collins brothercartooncoleridge Change image and share on social
I learned snails don't have ears. They live in silence. They go slowly. Slowly, slowly in silence. Billy Collins earlearnlive Change image and share on social
