billy collins: the poet of pettiness

BILLY COLLI

NS:

THE PO

ET OF P

ETTINESS

B Y : RO B E R T A

N N E N , MA G G I E

WA D L E Y , D

E A N N A

L E E

INFORMATION• Born March 22, 1941 in New York, New York• Dad- William Collins - Electrician• Mom- Katherine Collins– Nurse• Married Diane

BILLY COLLINS WRITING STYLE• Contemporary poet• Poems have surprise endings• Sarcastic / Humorous• Conversational and witty

poems• Laid-back

• First person• Casual• Everyday life

COLLEGE/WORK• Attended parochial schools• Got B.A. from College of the Holy Cross in 1963• Got Ph.D. from University of California, Riverside, 1971• Taught at Lehman College of the City University of New York• Became an English Professor• Writer-in-residence at Sarah Lawrence College• Founder of Poetry 180 project

INTERESTING• Radio appearance

AWARDS

FORGETFULNESSThe name of the author is the first to gofollowed obediently by the title, the plot,the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novelwhich suddenly becomes one you have never read,never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbordecided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbyeand watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological riverwhose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,well on your own way to oblivion where you will join thosewho have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the nightto look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.No wonder the moon in the window seems to have driftedout of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

TAKING OFF EMILY DICKINSON’S CLOTHES

POEM THAT SUPPORTS INFLUENCE (HAS PROOF)

CRITICS

CRITICS