BILLY COLLINSJake Sager.

Paul Flanagan.

Michael Andrews.

“His rangers

hat is cocked

at a disturbing angle.” o

u

anaugh

Back

grou

nd

Info

rmat

ion American2001 U.S. Poet Laureate

Sometimes referred to as

the most popular poet in AmericaHe has received poetry

fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation

Care

er

• Earned a BA from the college of Holy Cross

• Earned an MA and PhD from the University of California-Riverside

• Chosen several times for the best American poet series

Child

hood

• Born in New York City• Billy’s Mom was a nurseo Had ability to recite entire

verses on almost any subject.o Ability inspired Billy’s love

of words

Stru

ctur

e

oMost works do not rhymeoWrites in consistently

sized stanzasoStanzas usually form a storyline

Flam

es

“Smokey the Bear heads into the

autumn woods with a red can of

gasoline and a box of wooden

matches. His ranger's hat is cocked at a

disturbing angle. His brown fur gleams under the

high sun as his paws, the size of

catcher's mitts, crackle into the

distance. He is sick of dispensing warnings

to the careless, the half-wit

camper, the dumbbell hiker.

He is going to show them how a

professional does it.”

Anot

her R

easo

n I

Don’

t Kee

p a

Gun

in

the

Hous

e

“The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.

He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark

that he barks every time they leave the house.

They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.

I close all the windows in the house

and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast

but I can still hear him muffled under the music,

barking, barking, barking,and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,

his head raised confidently as if Beethoven

had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,

sitting there in the oboe section barking,

his eyes fixed on the conductor who is

entreating him with his batonwhile the other musicians listen in respectful

silence to the famous barking dog solo,

that endless coda that first established

Beethoven as an innovative genius. “

Litan

y

“You are the bread and the knife,

The crystal goblet and the wine...

-Jacques CrickillonYou are the bread and the knife,

the crystal goblet and the wine.

You are the dew on the morning grass

and the burning wheel of the sun.

You are the white apron of the baker,

and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,

the plums on the counter,

or the house of cards.And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.

There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,

maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,

but you are not even close

to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show

that you are neither the boots in the corner

nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,

speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,

that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,

the evening paper blowing down an alley

and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees

and the blind woman's tea cup.

But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.

You are still the bread and the knife.

You will always be the bread and the knife,

not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.”

Liter

ary

Criti

cism One of the most

commendable American poets”Truly deserves the title of U.S. Poet Laureate”

Som

e No

tabl

e W

orks

• Pokerface (1977)• The Art of Drowning (1995)• Taking Off Emily

Dickinson’s Clothes (2000)• The Trouble with Poetry,

and Other Poems (2005)• She Was Just Seventeen

(2008)• Horoscopes for the Dead (2011)

The

End oLaureate winneroSmartoComical poeto wrote hundreds of

poems