Its the birthday of the poet Billy Collins, born this day in 1941 in New York City, New York. Collins upbringing was basically middle class, suburban, and with a Catholic school education. While on a drive along the East River with his parents when Collins was 7 he wrote his first poem and continues writing publishing in books such as The Art of Drowning (1995), Nine Horses (2002), and Horoscopes from the Dead (2011). Collins was a teenager when the Beatniks were coming into the literary landscape. From the writings of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Ferlinghetti, among others, Collins might have been inspired to steal a car and take it for a ride from New York to Denver, but that, of course did not happen. Instead, Collins poetry revolves around much of the middle class upbringing and influences, seeing things in the ordinary, day-to-day life situations: My poetry is suburban, its domestic, its middle class, and its sort of unashamedly that, but I hope theres enough imaginative play in there that its not simply poems about barbecuing. Collins was the Poet Laureate from 2001-2003.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 12:35:50 +0000
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