Quote of the Day (Poet Billy Collins, on Being Read to as a Child)

“I have a secret theory that people who are addicted to reading are almost trying to recreate the joy, the comfortable joy of being read to as a child by a parent or a friendly uncle or an older sibling.”—Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins, “The Art of Poetry No. 83” (interview by George Plimpton), The Paris Review, Issue 159 (Fall 2001)

The photo of Billy Collins accompanying this post was taken May 13, 2007, by Marcelo Noah.

Quote of the Day (Poet Billy Collins, on Inspiration)

“In 19th-century English poetry, inspiration became a kind of pathology. There were metaphors for inspiration like flames, sparks and fountains. The trouble with the word inspiration in this context is that it suggests passivity—writers are people who write, but if you fall prey to this theory of inspiration, you're not acting, you're waiting….Waiting for inspiration is a way of ennobling procrastination. The trail of poets that has preceded you and affected your writing, those are my inspirations.  You’re never alone when you write. Your page is lit by the candles of the past.”—Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins, “Soapbox: The Columnists—WSJ. Asks Five Luminaries To Weigh in on Single Topic; This Month: Inspiration,” WSJ., June/July 2023

The photo of Billy Collins accompanying this post was taken May 13, 2007, by Marcelo Noah.

Quote of the Day (Poet Billy Collins, on 9/11)

“Names etched on the head of a pin.

One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.

A blue name needled into the skin.

Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,

The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.

Alphabet of names in a green field.

Names in the small tracks of birds.

Names lifted from a hat

Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.

Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.

So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.”—Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins, from “The Names,” read before a special Joint Session of Congress in 2002

(I took the accompanying photo of the World Trade Center Memorial in Overpeck County Park in Leonia, N.J. The design features two oblique monoliths symbolizing the Twin Towers, with the names inscribed of the 154 Bergen County, N.J., residents who perished that day. One of the names on this tablet was the brother of a former co-worker of mine.

At a memorial service a year after the awful event, a priest summed up the terror attack—and of those who rose to meet it--this way: “Hatred started the fires on 9/11. Love put them out.”)