In only seven stanzas and a little introductory phrase, a quote by Paul Cezanne, I am plunged into the world of beauty, where art, science, philosophy, farms and haystacks, baseball, the history of architecture, and the heaven of geometry with its lines, vanishing points and theorems converge to dance, intertwined and deeply in love.*
That is the Poetry of Billy Collins. His ability to pull all of the world into one poem, simply, nonchalantly, with humor, is why he is one of the most beloved poets of our time. Who else has Bestseller Books of Poetry?
That is all. I have nothing else to say. I feel blessed, like I can breathe better, more fully, more with my whole being, than I have for a while.
* Vanishing Point, by Billy Collins, from The Apple That Astonished Paris, The University of Arkansas Press, Fayatteville, 2006
photo from here.
Your poetry does the same thing for most everyone who has an opportunity to read or hear it.
Thank you! To be considered in the same realm as Billy Collins would be a treat!