Introduction to poetry

I was listening to A Prairie Home Companion in the car recently, and I heard someone reading the end of what seemed to be a poem written from the point of view of a deceased dog talking to his owner. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, I arrived at my destination and had to leave the car before finding out who the reader/author was. So I did some research the other day and discovered that it was Billy Collins. Of course!!!

He is one of our favorite poets, introduced to us by our friend Eric. Every time there is a 'reading party' (that's when it's someone's birthday or something and we say, 'everyone bring something to read - a poem, an essay, a short book', and we read aloud to each other), Billy Collins is an absolute favorite. Here's why:

The Revenant

I am the dog you put to sleep, as you like to call the needle of oblivion, come back to tell you this simple thing: I never liked you--not one bit. When I licked your face, I thought of biting off your nose. When I watched you toweling yourself dry, I wanted to leap and unman you with a snap. I resented the way you moved, your lack of animal grace, the way you would sit in a chair to eat, a napkin on your lap, knife in your hand. I would have run away, but I was too weak, a trick you taught me while I was learning to sit and heel, and--greatest of insults--shake hands without a hand. I admit the sight of the leash would excite me but only because it meant I was about to smell things you had never touched. You do not want to believe this, but I have no reason to lie. I hated the car, the rubber toys, disliked your friends and, worse, your relatives. The jingling of my tags drove me mad. You always scratched me in the wrong place. All I ever wanted from you was food and fresh water in my metal bowls. While you slept, I watched you breathe as the moon rose in the sky. It took all of my strength not to raise my head and howl. Now I am free of the collar, the yellow raincoat, monogrammed sweater, the absurdity of your lawn, and that is all you need to know about this place except what you already supposed and are glad it did not happen sooner-- that everyone here can read and write, the dogs in poetry, the cats and the others in prose.

(Billy Collins, from his cd The Best Cigarette)

His website is located here. You can also go here and read a few of his poems. (You MUST do this; they are SO fun. I want to buy all his books, including the new The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems. By the way, he was once the poet laureate for the U.S.

I will leave you with an

Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color 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 waterski
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)