Billy Collins and Suzannah Gilman, 2015 PEN Gala, May 5, 2015, American Museum of Natural History © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center
Billy Collins (b. 1941)- poet, writer, anthologist and educator – at the PEN America Gala, May 5, 2015, American Museum of Natural History © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center, photo under CC 2.0 Generic License

I think what gets a poem going is an initiating line. Sometimes a first line will occur, and it goes nowhere; but other times – and this, I think, is a sense you develop – I can tell that the line wants to continue. If it does, I can feel a sense of momentum – the poem finds a reason for continuing.”

Billy Collins’ poetry is profound, bazaar or tenderhearted observation expressed with wit; the ordinary expressed in the most extraordinary ways. We love this former U.S. Poet Laureate from New York.

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