Thursday, March 25, 2010

Ode to Billy Collins


Ode to Billy Collins



There are no
Poetry books on the
Best Seller list.
I search the list of twenty fiction books
In vain.
Sorry, Billy.

Thin books, high prices.
The short lines
Frighten timid readers,
So much
Packed emotion in
Such a small space,
In so few letters and words,
Simple statements
Stirring the pot of uneasy memory.

The average reader
Would much rather
Read pap, mindless,
Mind-numbing, than
Read something with
Substance.
John Q. Public comes across “Obituary”
By accident,
Thinking it was just that,
A roll call of the dead,
He mumbles to his wife,
“He ain’t no Rod McEuen.”


T. Mooney

Posted over on Writeonill

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