Poetry, for Beauty's Sake

Thought you might find this interesting:

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

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 a poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water-ski
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.

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picture: eplteen.wordpress.com
poetry: http://www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/columns/viewpoint/13968-just-plain-fun-mostly?awt_l=6InL_&awt_m=1a1A9xmkMccIQ4