Share this poem:
Billy Collins
Billy Collins
(22 March 1941 - / New York City)
Poems by Billy Collins : 16 / 52
Introduction To Poetry - Poem by Billy Collins
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.
Poems by Billy Collins : 16 / 52
Read this poem in other languages
Read poems about / on: poem, light, poetry
Poem Submitted: Monday, January 13, 2003
Billy Collins's Other Poems
Famous Poems
-
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
-
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
-
If You Forget Me
Pablo Neruda
-
Dreams
Langston Hughes
-
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
-
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
-
If
Rudyard Kipling
-
I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You
Pablo Neruda
-
Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep
Mary Elizabeth Frye
-
Television
Roald Dahl
Nice.. check out dream world by ankusha for some more wonderful poems... (Report) Reply
Thanks for poem Iove it (Report) Reply
fxck this is shxt lol (Report) Reply
A great poem, thank you Billy for sharing (Report) Reply
How can I contribute a poem here? Thanks! (Report) Reply
I love this poem for your humour, you see the funny side of people trying their damndest to find more in a poet than, maybe, was ever intended. (Report) Reply
ha ha very nice. Felt it quite well (Report) Reply
...dropp a mouse into a poem. Nicely written and well communicated. SYLVA-ONYEMA UBA (Report) Reply
Your poem was amazing (Report) Reply
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out, Love it. (Report) Reply
Plain diction but rich in metaphor. (Report) Reply
i like this poem a lot good job billy (Report) Reply
Over analysis of anything is never good,
You end up with nothing, understood,
Like a dried out dish, that's overcooked.
This is a striking poem not only for the original images and metaphors but also because of how vividly the poet presents his case. (Report) Reply
Yes, we sometimes, truly struggle with some poems. Still, poet may have a definite objective in his/her mind, when the poem is crafted, like viewing it against light like a slide, or dropping a mouse in to it and watching how it would struggle to get out or finding walls in a room of poem etc. etc. It makes us thinking, indeed. Enjoyed. Thanks for sharing. X (Report) Reply
Funny the ways trying to know a poem.Wonderful write.10 (Report) Reply
That's sad!
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
The fate of introduction to poetry. (Report) Reply
Poetry like life cannot always be figured out, sometimes the real beauty is simply in the participating in/with it. (Report) Reply
Such a meaningful poem, Billy.... congrats for being picked...10++++ (Report) Reply
Here Them is the word we have to decipher its targeted category first. Otherwise another mistake we will have to commit again to misjudge the Poet. (Report) Reply
The poem's room! ! Thanks for sharing. (Report) Reply