"Introduction To Poetry I ask them to take……" — Billy Collins

"Introduction To Poetry I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means."

— Billy Collins

Across Quotes Against Quotes All Quotes Ask Quotes Ask Them Quotes Beating Quotes Begin Quotes Begin Beating Quotes Chair Quotes Chairs Quotes Color Quotes Confession Quotes Drop Quotes Ear Quotes Ear Against Quotes Ears Quotes Feel Quotes Feels Quotes Find Quotes Him Quotes His Way Quotes Hive Quotes Hold Quotes Hose Quotes I Ask Quotes I Ask Them Quotes I Say Quotes I Want Quotes I Want Them Quotes Inside Quotes Into Quotes Introduction Quotes Light Quotes Light Like Quotes Light Switch Quotes Mean Quotes Means Quotes Mice Quotes Mouse Quotes Name Quotes Names Quotes Out Quotes Poem Quotes Poetry Quotes Press Quotes Probe Quotes Really Quotes Really Mean Quotes Really Means Quotes Room Quotes Rooms Quotes Rope Quotes Say Quotes Say Drop Quotes Shore Quotes Slide Quotes Slides Quotes Surface Quotes Switch Quotes Take Quotes Them Quotes They Begin Quotes They Want Quotes Tie Quotes Ties Quotes Torture Quotes Up Quotes Walk Quotes Walk Inside Quotes Walks Quotes Wall Quotes Walls Quotes Want Quotes Want Them Quotes Watch Quotes Watch Him Quotes Watches Quotes Waterski Quotes Waving Quotes Way Quotes

57 Quotes by Billy Collins

Billy Collins has 57 quotes on this site. A few more worth reading:

See all 57 quotes by Billy Collins »

More Across Quotes

This quote is filed under Across Quotes, one of 3,257 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

Genres aren't closed boxes. Stuff flows back and forth across the borders all the time. — Margaret Atwood
I know that some books and some writers, you can pretty much draw a square around it and say, 'Nobody… — Margaret Atwood
The School Energy Crisis Relief Act authorizes the Secretary of Energy to issue energy assistance grants to help the poorest… — Joe Baca
A few years ago, I bought an old red bicycle with the words Free Spirit written across its side -… — Drew Barrymore
According to some Eastern religion, there is a belt that goes across the world, and I've heard that Minnesota is… — Melody Beattie
As freedom-loving people across the globe hope for an end to tyranny, we will never forget the enormous suffering of… — Bob Beauprez
When Whitney Houston died, I felt great sadness. My sadness, of course, was about our collective loss - when you… — James Belushi
Emigration, forced or chosen, across national frontiers or from village to metropolis, is the quintessential experience of our time. — John Berger
The arms race is worse than it ever was, the dumping of creation down a military rat hole is worse… — Daniel Berrigan
Philately is normally a boys' hobby but for some reason it was in vogue at my junior school. Between the… — Sophie Ellis Bextor
If across the Atlantic the ideology was pride, here it is delivering the goods. — Theodor Adorno
But it's not just the cattle producers, it's all the attendant industries like transport and shipping and feed producers and… — Julie Bishop

See all 3,257 Across Quotes »