Ode To Billy Collins

Billy Collins was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. I discovered him on Prairie Home Companion recently and love his style of poems written with wit and interesting perspectives.


I started a poem last night
about my head being in the clouds.

I couldn't seem to get beyond that.


I thought about you and
your columns of artfully arranged words.
The same words I use, but not nearly so well.

I wondered how you write a poem.

Do the words flow easily or
exit your head in faltering stutters?

Do you write down fragments of phrases
that occasionally come to mind
praying that one day
they will compose themselves into a cohesive bunch?

With all the words in the English language at our disposal,
you would think that
we could pluck and choose with abandon.
Finding the right words would be
effortless.

I don't know how you do it
Billy Collins.

But I wish I could do it too.