Poetry can do a lot of things to people. I mean it can improve your imagination. It can take you to new places. It can give you this incredible form of verbal pleasure. Billy Collins formgiveimagination Change image and share on social
Cummings' career as a writer - and a painter - was as wobbly as his love life. He tried his hand at playwriting, satirical essays, and even a dance scenario for Lincoln Kirsten. Billy Collins careercummingdance Change image and share on social
Besides the aesthetics, besides teaching an appreciation of T.S. Eliot, a basic need is fulfilled when you teach English at CUNY. Billy Collins aestheticappreciationbasic Change image and share on social
It's an important social duty to spread the word of English to people whose livelihoods depend on knowing the language. Billy Collins dependdutyenglish Change image and share on social
I write with a Uni-Ball Onyx Micropoint on nine-by-seven bound notebooks made by a Canadian company called Blueline. After I do a few drafts, I type up the poem on a Macintosh G3 and then send it out the door. Billy Collins ballbindblueline share on social
I am increasingly attracted to restricting possibility in the poem by inflicting a form upon yourself. Once you impose some formal pattern on yourself, then the poem is pushing back. I think good poems are often the result of that kind of wrestling with the form. Billy Collins attractbackform share on social
I really have a distaste for poets who announce themselves at 50 yards; you know, here he comes, you know, with the beret and the cane and the cape and the whatever - whatever mishegas is part of the outfit there. Billy Collins announceberetcane share on social
Listeners are kind of ambushed... if a poem just happens to be said when they're listening to the radio. The listener doesn't have time to deploy what I call their 'poetry deflector shields' that were installed in high school - there's little time to resist the poem. Billy Collins ambushcalldeflector share on social
Now that I'm older, a real source of interest is the ages of the dead, the number; the day is off to an optimistic start when the departed are all older than I. Billy Collins agedaydead 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
