Chekhov's Mistress
Billy Collins and The Dead
The Dead is, I believe, typical Billy Collins and an example of why he’s so popular. It’s a light poem, but that last line bridges the divide between humor and meaning. I love it and if you’ve been around long enough for someone you love to have died on you, I think you’ll appreciate the sentiment.
I only bring it up because I found – while watching the Paul Muldoon video linked from Ami Greko’s terrific FSG blog – an illustrated reading of it. I think the illustrations cheapen the poem, but they are good. See the video on Youtube, or here:
The Dead Billy Collins Animated Poetry on Vimeo
Either last year or the one before, I picked up a recording of a Collins reading at BEA. I didn’t get to it for a while (you pick up a lot of stuff at BEA). Bill Murray opened for him at Symphony Space (If you don’t know, Billy Collins makes a lot of money off his books, rare for a poet, and gets a big draw at live appearances). Not having bothered to look at the cover, I couldn’t tell for a while that it was Bill Murray talking and not Billy Collins (okay, it only took a minute, but the point is that there’s a notable simpatico there).
I know he represents to some an accessible side of poetry that they’d rather not acknowledge, but I stay away from those thoughts of what might be good or bad for poetry. I think Collins’ poetry is lilting and memorable, and that my friends, is good for people.
comments
An interesting video. The drawings do undermine the poem a bit, but they are nice. I’ve always liked Billy Collins-- he’s a guilty pleasure. I saw him read in Cincinnati a few years ago and fell in love with poems like “Nightclub” and “Poetry 101.” I read “The Lanyard” to my mother for Mother’s Day a few years back too… it was a hit. Collins has the demeanor of your loveable old uncle who waxes philosophic when he hits the sauce; his poems chuckle along with you then always, always twist the knife in the last few verses. A professor of mine in college once said that she thought Collins’ work was amusing/witty, but not poetry-- rather, prose with line break. Perhaps. But it’s entertaining nonetheless.
– Julia (04/27 at 11:46 AM)
That attitude is her (your professor’s) loss. A poem is best judged by what it accomplishes not by its form (look at some of Ann Carson’s work, for one example). It’s typically people who have been taught to love poetry instead of finding it on there own who think otherwise.
– Bud Parr (04/27 at 12:02 PM)
Didn’t mean that to sound combative, by the way, I appreciate your comment.
– Bud Parr (04/27 at 12:14 PM)
Page 1 of 1 pages of comments
Creative Commons License Deed Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
You are free:
- to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
-
Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
-
No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
- For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.
- Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
- Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.
This is a human-readable summary of the Legal Code (the full license):
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/legalcode
This site employs rank-denial and other anti-spam measures.
Your link here will do nothing for your rankings or traffic. Off-topic comments will be deleted.
Previous entry: Matt Cheney on Roberto Bolano
About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: April 16, 2007
- Filed Under:
Wise Men Fish Here: Literature
- Comments:3
- Links to this Post: Technorati
