Laughing with Billy Collins

Laugh out loud. Go ahead. Take a deep breath—pause—and laugh.

That’s what you will do when you read Billy Collins’s poetry. Collins—U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 until
2003—writes serious poetry with a sly grin. Yes, he has messages to deliver, but he seems to see no reason to
be maudlin about it all. For example, I opened my copy of his book Ballistics (published in 2008 by Random
House Press) fall open, where it landed on “Hippos on Holiday.” Collins affirms that he loves “their short legs
and big heads,/the whole hippo look.” and continues “When they open their enormous mouths/lined with big
stubby teeth/I would drink my enormous Coke.”

Billy Collins is such a commentator of today’s issues. He doesn’t shy away from poking fun at things most
people would take seriously. The first time you read one of his poems, you can glean something—even if that
“something” is simple entertainment. On a second and third reading, you begin to see the larger picture. Billy
Collins has a lot to say.

Many years ago, I attended his poetry reading at Kent State University in the University’s Ballroom, which
holds many hundreds of people. Collins—who knows how to deliver a punch line with perfect pauses—had the
whole place in stitches. People who don’t expect to like poetry can find something to love with Billy Collins.
You can, too.