Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Literature, Poetry, and Books

The Art of Drowning

Back to Billy Collins.  A friend kindly sent me another volume of his poems, The Art of Drowning.  Just about ruined what was supposed to be a productive day, what with the students being away thought I could get more work done.  But then work is just work, and reading being a pleasure it seems I get nothing done, as the pleasure saves my soul.  This volume contains "The Blues," "Nightclub," and "Some Final Words," none of which are gettable online.  Maybe later I will cheat, and copy them for you.  For now, you can listen to (and see animation go with) both Budapest and Forgetfulness.

Discussions - 1 Comment

God only knows why this fascinates, but I have Billy Collins' books of poems pouring in from libraries all over the state. I haven't received, "The Art of Drowning" yet, but it is surely on the way. That guy has written a lot of poetry.

Of course, as he suggests in "The Trouble With Poetry", poetry begets poetry. After reading his poems, my own sprout up, though I try to suppress them. I am not a poet.

"But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry
to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame
to appear at the end of my pencil."

Did you see this yet?

"And along with that, the longing to steal,
to break into the poems of others
with a flashlight and ski mask."

But the animated poems are wonderful, charming, dleightful, yes, a pleasure. Thank you.

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