I Took an Old Lady to See Him Speak

Dear Jake,

I'll be honest.  I was super pleased that you ran with the Haiku thing.  Fantastic!  I laughed throughout and was impressed with your creativity and loyalty to the Haiku tradition.  Very nice.

My senior year at Central College I took a poetry class.  I was hoping to write poetry, but it was all studying poets and their poems.  It was actually way more interesting than I expected and I came across many poems that I enjoyed.  I had to buy an exorbitant amount of books for the class, but it was okay because the books were generally like $5.

There is this poet named Billy Collins that I really loved.  He happened to be the American Poet Laureate in 2005 and he even visited Central.  I went to hear him speak and I loved it.  The guy was almost part stand-up comedian but he had a way of using the most beautiful language to make his jokes.  He didn't take himself as seriously as I felt like many poets did.  He also just appreciated words and his poems were often deep while remaining light.  I am going to share one of his poems and then link to a few more of his.  Take some time and read through them.  It's worth it.

Introduction to Poetry
by Billy Collins

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

Click the titles below to read more of his poems.

Flames
On Turning Ten
Litany
Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun in the House
Embrace
Child Development

Those are some of them.  There are many more.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

So what about music?  What do you find yourself listening to most lately?