Three Poems by Billy Collins (2007)

Three poems from the former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Hosted by the Aspen Institute, the 2007 Aspen Ideas Festival, www.aifestival.org, offers its participants a variety of programs, tutorials, seminars, and discussion events that together charged the town of Aspen with vibrant intellectual exchange. Some of the most inspired and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, business people, teachers and other leaders drawn from myriad fields and from across the country and around the world all gathered in a single place-to teach, speak, lead, question, and answer.

[@dogboydog]

He definitely has the perfect voice for his poems.

[@aneelabalsavr1561]

Absolutely wonderful to listen to

[@LEDPENNY]

Ripples that move inward, toward the rock dropped in a pond...what a unique unto brilliant mode to envision vulnerability

[@kimramey66]

I LOVE The Lanyard.

[@sk8rwannabe07]

billy collins is the only poet today who can be understood by anybody...that's why i love him.

[@alfogel3298]

What about Charles Bukowski?

[@richardnotman787]

One of my favorites.

[@alfogel3298]

Enjoyed..
here’s one of my favorite Charles Bukowski poems titled “ Peace”
PEACE
I thought the dove
was the bird of peace
but here they were shooting them out
of the brush
and climbing up the sides of mountains
and banging them down;
and everywhere the doves went
there were the
hunters
blasting and beaming and blasting,
and one man who didn’t
in the slightest
resemble a dove
was shot in the shoulder;
and there were many complaints
that the doves
were smaller and scarcer
than last year,
but the way they fell
through the air
when you stung the
life
out of them
was the same;
and I was there too
but I couldn’t shoot anything
with a paintbrush;
and a couple of them
came over to my canvas
and stood and stood and stood
until I finally said,
for God’s sake
go look at Picasso and Rembrandt,
go look at Klee and Gauguin,
listen to a symphony by Mahler,
and if you get anything
out of that
come back
and stare at my canvas!
what the hell’s wrong
with him?
the one guy said..
he’s nuts. they’re all nuts,
the other guy said. anyhow,
I got my 10 doves.
me too, his buddy said, let’s.go home: we can have them
in the frying pan
by 2:30.
-Charles Bukowski

[@Saveg36]

im here from the future but also the past

[@1nf3rnus0153]

i think the first one he read was the best out of the three...

[@PocketRebel]

Saw Billy Collins a few years ago at the Midwest Literary Arts Festival. Does anyone know how I can find a schedule for his readings? I am having a lot of trouble!

[@sydlawson3181]

Apparently not

[@Saveg36]

i like bread