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

In 2001, Billy Collins was named Poet Laureate of the United States. The New York Times has called him “The most popular poet in America” and  he has received numerous awards and distinctions over the years.  Collins has also taught poetry workshops in Ireland and at major U.S. universities, such as Columbia, Sarah Lawrence and City University of New York. 

Of his work, the poet Stephen Dunn has said, “We seem to always know where we are in a Billy Collins poem, but not necessarily where he is going. I love to arrive with him at his arrivals. He doesn't hide things from us, as I think lesser poets do. He allows us to overhear, clearly, what he himself has discovered.”