Poetry Friday- Billy Collins: Introduction To Poetry

American Poet, Billy Collins.

I am keen to share this Billy Collins poem with you, dear readers. It so precisely sums up what a poet wishes a reader will do with the words they have created. The poem reveals the poet's desire to have the essence of the poem embraced. It speaks of his regret about what so often befalls a poem. In the hands of misguided meaning seekers poems are frequently torn apart; their beauty is lost.

Once more, let us revel in the words Billy Collins provides. Let them gently seep into your consciousness. Let them reach your poet's heart.

Introduction To Poetry


I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light 
like a colour slide
or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water-ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means. 

Billy Collins

*If you enjoyed this Billy Collins poem and would like to read more of his work. Here is a link to another of his poems: On Turning Ten

'Love of language and a sense of gratitude would be two ingredients in the recipe for making a poet.'

Billy Collins

The Art of Poetry