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I'm pretty much all for poetry in public places - poetry on buses, poetry on subways, on billboards, on cereal boxes.
Billy Collins -
I don't write for an auditorium full of people. I don't write for the microphone; I write for the page.
Billy Collins
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The obituaries shot up to the top of my list when I discovered Robert McG. Thomas, the 'Times' obit writer who redesigned its traditional form and added a measure of stylistic elegance.
Billy Collins -
I just reached the point where plot-driven novels don't hold my interest because I don't care about the fate of characters anymore - whether Emily marries Tom or not, that kind of thing.
Billy Collins -
I first came across 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' in college, with other anthologized poems by Yeats.
Billy Collins -
I'll listen to anything authentic whether it's bluegrass or gospel or blues.
Billy Collins -
I'm all for poetry catching up with technology, and just as there are iTunes, I think we should have iPoems. I mean, people should be able to walk around with their earbuds in and listening to poems on their iPod.
Billy Collins -
I have my Poetry 180 project, which I've made my main project. We encourage high schools, because that's really where, for most people, poetry dies off and gets buried under other adolescent pursuits.
Billy Collins
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Discovering Samuel Beckett in college was a big deal for me. I realized you could be very funny and very dark at the same time.
Billy Collins -
I'm easily frightened, and I've also come to realize that old Catholic guilt or remorse is easily stimulated.
Billy Collins -
Emily Dickinson seems rather tame because she pretty much uses the same meter every time. It's called 'common meter.' It's a line of four beats that's followed by a line of three beats.
Billy Collins -
I think it's good not to make demands on the reader too early. But as the poem goes on, I want the journey of the poem to lead into some interesting places.
Billy Collins -
If an artist is driven primarily by social responsibility, I think the art probably suffers because, again, just as leadership has a rather defined end point or purpose, social responsibility would seem to have a very clear moral context.
Billy Collins -
Cummings' career as a writer - and a painter - was as wobbly as his love life. He tried his hand at playwriting, satirical essays, and even a dance scenario for Lincoln Kirsten.
Billy Collins
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When I discovered the lyric poem, that advanced not by narrative steps but by blocks and layers of imagery, I said, 'Gee, I probably could do that. So let me try that.'
Billy Collins -
Poems are perfect for something to listen to while you're walking around because they don't take very long.
Billy Collins