Poetry Writing With Billy Collins

    What can’t be a subject for a poem! You can write about anything. This is a characteristic of today’s poetry. Poets now consider everything as subjects for their poems. A stunning example is Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States, 2001-2003, and Poet Laureate of New York State, 2004.

    Look at the titles of his poems: Afternoon With Irish Cows, I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey’s Version of "Three Blind Mice,"  Man Listening to Disc, The Death of the Hat, The Biography of a Cloud, The Butterfly Effect, Weighing the Dog, While Eating a Pear, etc.  

    Do not miss his intriguing poem about Walking across the Atlantic. The Kicker is what the fish see when they look up. Or have you been to the Hadyn Planetarium and weighed yourself on the moon and on other planets?

   
Walking Across the Atlantic

I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach
before stepping onto the first wave.                          Lead

Soon I am walking across the Atlantic                        Build-up
thinking about Spain,
checking for whales, waterspouts.

I feel the water holding up my shifting weight.
Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.

But for now I try to imagine what                              Kicker
this must look like to the fish below,
the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.

Earthling

You have probably come across
those scales in planetariums                                 Lead
that tell you how much you                                     Build-up
would weigh on other planets.
I fail to see the attraction.                   

You have noticed the fat ones
lingering on the Mars scale
and the emaciated slowing up
the line for Neptune.
As a creature of average weight
I fail to see the attraction.

Imagine squatting in the wasteland
of Pluto, all five tons of you,
or wandering around Mercury
wondering what to do next with your ounce.

How much better to step onto                           
the simple bathroom scale,
a happy earthling feeling
the familiar ropes of gravity.

157 pounds standing soaking wet                                    Kicker
a respectful distance from the sun.


            To help students become aware of a poet’s language have them use excerpted stanzas as models for complete poems of three to five lines.  An excerpt often functions as a single poem. Using an excerpt is an efficient way for introducing a particular poet’s language to your students. Browse Billy Collins’ books and discover wonderful and teachable excerpts.

            Rewrite the following excerpts as poems, changing the bold-faced words and combinations of words. Be free to change more and to add whatever comes into your mind. Check afterwards to see if what you add fits the poem.


How stimulating the scenery of the world,
the rows of roadside trees,
the huge blue sheet of the sky.

How stimulating the scenery of the world,
the rows of roadside trees,
the huge blue sheet of the sky.

        The Parade
        Nine Horses


A wolf is reading a book of fairy tales.
the moon hangs over the forest a lamp.

A wolf is reading a book of fairy tales.
the moon hangs over the forest a lamp.

        Wolf
        Questions About Angels


And when he comes into full view over open fields
he looks like a young  who has fallen in love
with the dark earth.

And when he comes into full view over open fields
he looks like a young man who has fallen in love
with the dark earth.

        The Man in the Moon
        Questions About Angels

Now in a poem write a description about how the man in the moon looks.

    Offer Billy Collins’ poems to your students. They can absorb the feel of his
language. This will show in the words and combinations of words they put together..

Guide your students in practicing the finding and use of precise words.

    Please see entry on my Website (maxwellcorydonwheatjr.com), Choose the Right Word Like Robert Frost.

    Books by Billy Collins: Questions about Angels, Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the Room, Picnic, Lightning, etc.RE: