Featherstone Center for the Arts and Pathways Arts will present Billy Collins, reading his poems, at 6 pm on Saturday, Sept. 26 in Featherstone’s Francine Kelly Gallery. Collins will also be teaching a one-day poetry workshop on Friday, Sept. 25. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Featherstone, and Collins has read his poems there every other year since 2007.
One of the most popular poets in America, and a former U.S. poet laureate, Billy Collins is a tireless campaigner for making poetry accessible to everyday people. His work is witty, profound, and humane. Also, he loves dogs. This interview emerged from an email exchange with Billy Collins in late August and early September.
Michael West: What was the occasion of the first poem you remember writing?
Billy Collins: My mother would often remind me of events in my early childhood growing up in New York that I had forgotten, but this one I remember directly. I was about 8 or so, in the back of my parents’ car as we drove up the FDR Drive. I was watching a sailboat tacking up the East River. I asked my mother for a pencil and something to write on. I don’t remember what I wrote, but I think that qualifies as my first act of literature. When I looked up, the sailboat was gone. “If you see something, say something.” That caution after 9/11 is what the English Romantic poets began doing in the 1790s, and what much contemporary poetry still consists of. I guess that means my first theme was “Man versus Nature” — the man in the sailboat versus the force of the river.
MW: Your most recent book is “Dog Show.” Have you always loved dogs?
BC: My first experience with dogs was purely literary. Along with the Hardy Boys series, I read all of the dog adventure books—really collie adventure books — by Albert Payson Terhune. We didn’t get an actual dog until we moved from the city to the Westchester suburbs, a rescue mutt who really looked like he needed to be rescued even after we brought him home from the pound. Sparky, named after a character on a children’s Saturday morning radio show. “We’re buying a heartache” was my father’s wise caution to me. I’ve had four dogs all told, four heartaches on four leashes, all returned by the vet.
MW: People enjoy the humor in your poems. Who in the world of comics and comedians do you find funny?
BC: My father was a very humorous guy, a wisecracker with lots of one-liners. And a puller of elaborate practical jokes, some of which these days would likely cost you your job. He took the comedians of his day very seriously. Loved Red Skelton and Jackie Gleason. Could not stand Jack Benny. I think he enjoyed his contempt for Benny. He would watch his show and yell from the “television room” about how unfunny he was.
Me, I like George Carlin, Norm MacDonald, Andy Kaufman, Melissa McCarthy, Jay Golden, Dave Chappelle, Olivia Coleman, Richard Pryor, Jeff Altman, Redd Foxx …. oh, Fred Willard!
MW: Who are your favorite artists?
BC: Matisse and more Matisse. I want to move into one of his colorful rooms and stay there. I wouldn’t add a thing except a really high-end sound system.
MW: Your favorite jazz musicians?
BC: I’m always embarrassed talking about jazz. It’s hard to avoid sounding like you’re flashing your hip credentials. Especially the name-dropping requirement. Referring to “Miles,” “Bud,”and “Prez” as if you go to the beach with those cats all the time. Let’s just say I started listening to jazz when I was 14 (Benny Goodman’s 1938 “Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert”) and I pretty much stopped keeping up after “Bitches Brew,” my favorite year for jazz being 1957.
MW: What’s in the to-be-read pile next to your bed?
BC: Night table occupants: Sophie Elmhirst, “A Marriage at Sea”; Marlon James, “The Disappearers”; Geoff Dyer, “The Last Days of Roger Federer”; Emily Wilson, “Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea.” And a glass of water.
MW: It must be a massive task to publish 50 years and more than 500 pages of poems. That’s due in 2027, isn’t it?
BC: A “Complete Poems” looks like a big item on a shelf at 500-plus pages, but it’s hardly a “massive task” to put together, largely because the poems have already been written. I can vouch for that because I was actually there. All the poems you’ve ever written get stacked up in chronological order, then covers are added, and on the truck they go. The plan is to publish in 2027 so the title can read “Complete Poems (1977-2027).” An even 50 years of writing poems. Gulp. I’ve heard that’s when they cover your lap with a blanket, wheel you out to a shady spot on the lawn, and leave you there, alone with your watercoloring kit.
*******
Hotel Rex
By Billy Collins
Looming over the little sewing kit
and the miniature bottles
of shampoo and conditioner,
I am a giant, a colossus,
a king standing before the royal mirror
in an enormous robe of terrycloth.
As a sign of my benevolence,
I will forego coffee,
scrambled eggs, and toast
from room service and check out early
before my tiny subjects arrive
to wash their hair and mend their simple attire.
Copyright © Billy Collins from “Whale Day,” Random House, 2020
Poetry reading with Billy Collins, Saturday, Sept. 26, 6 pm at the Francine Kelly Gallery, Featherstone Center for the Arts. $30 general seating/$300 VIP seats as a fundraiser for Featherstone’s 30th year! (These seats are within the first two rows, and include parking in the upper main lot.)
