Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Friday, June 13, 2008

after trying to read billy collins

the poet laureate of america, billy collins, is adored and gushed about just about every time i turn around.

i don't get it.

once again, i picked up billy collins' collection, "nine horses:poems", and once again, i didn't think i was reading great poetry. i didn't even feel like i was reading pretty good poetry.

but, i realized there was something i was reading that was otherwise often absent from the current poetry of the country.

billy collins isn't a manic-depressive. his verse - though tepid - is consistenly upbeat, and cheerful. he is a happy fellow.

no wonder he's so popular.

currently, our literary poets write elegies and dirges about everything.they are a very sad, depressed bunch of people. when they are happy, they gush like a kid just discovering a new tv show. then, they drop back into deep despair.

no wonder billy collins is so popular. getting through his anthology doesn't require xanax and whiskey.

i wonder when good poets will rediscover happiness.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi, this Alycia Cooke. I and the other goofy members of EAG met you at AggieCon in March. I just wanted to let you know that my first ever fiction short story "Sumari's Solitude" is now published in the Ruins Metropolis anthology on Amazon.com! Also I wanted to know where I could find a copy of the short story you read dealing with the child escaping the maze and flying to the goblin king. I absolutely loved it! Congrats on the new version of The Last Dragon and good luck on your new novel. E-mail me: alyciaccooke@gmail.com or find me on LiveJournal as AlyciaChristine.