Awesome.

I would've been more into poetry sooner if I'd discovered Collins years ago.

One of the blurbs on the inside from book reviewers says something about his self-deprecating humor and his disdain for all things pretentious. I think that that's really the key to his genius. He doesn't take himself, or his poetry too serious and he has to be the most accessible poet since Shel Silverstein. This isn't children's poetry, and it isn't aggressively satirical though. It's comfortable and easy to relate to. Casual without having to give up being meaningful, even profound.

Now, I like Carl Sandburg and Robert Bly alright and I'm as impressed with Whitman and Emerson and Dickinson and Poe as the next reader and Nikki Giovani's rhythms and William Carlos Williams' word pictures helped me like poetry where a lot of people are afraid of it or left cold, but this guy Billy Collins- wow, this is the poet I want to be like. This is the poet that's helped me love poetry and appreciate it for what it can really be and really do.

Funny, warm, personal and unpretentious. What more could you ask for in a friend- let alone a writer?

Wonderful. Loved it.

Thanks again, Rod, for reading Collins to our Iowa Writing Project group this summer.