"Walking Across the Atlantic":I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach
before stepping onto the first wave.
Soon I am walking across the Atlantic
thinking about Spain,
checking for whales, waterspouts.
I feel the water holding up my shifting weight.
Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.
But for now I try to imagine what
this must look like to the fish below,
the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.
Magical, beautiful, everything good. I'm hooked. I came across a poem titled "The Dead" by Billy Collins (Former poet laureate of the United States) on a friend's blog and now I can't get enough. He came to BYU to do a reading and I had class at the time so I didn't go. I should have learned by now that one will often learn more while playing hooky than they will warming a seat in class. I put the above book on my amazon.com wish list, the title alone is justification enough to buy what appears to be a wonderful collection of poems:
"Walking Across the Atlantic" and many others by Collins, remind me of the wanderlust I felt as a boy and the many afternoons I left off, pursuing vagaries and watching the shifting light as it danced through the trees to warm my youthful cheeks.
If you want to see a visual interpretation of this poem, go here. Enjoy these poems and the many gifts Billy Collins wants to share with you
1 comment:
i LOVE Billy Collins. a few years ago my best friend introduced me to his poetry, reading aloud from Sailing Alone Around the Room. "Forgetfulness" is the poem that, ironically, sticks with me still from that first reading. i was so giddy when he came to BYU, i went to get my book signed and i could hardly speak, i was so starstruck.
i'm glad that you already know about the billy collins action poetry animations. i think they're marvelous. you can also get free audio downloads of Billy Collins reading some of his poems here.
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