Poets House
September 28th, 2009 | 8 Comments | Books, Travelogues |
And my maybe not-so-smart conversation with Billy Collins
Saturdays event marking the grand opening of Poets House in Battery Park City was attended by many luminaries of the poetry world. While not strictly luminaries ourselves, or even poets come to think of it, LF is on the mailing list and we headed into Manhattan to see what we could see.
Their new building is a beauty, with wide windows overlooking the the riverfront park and the Hudson. We contemplated the beauty of the surroundings as well as why people standing on the New York side are looking at the river; and people on the New Jersey side are looking at the skyline. Though that’s neither here nor there for the purposes of this sort-of funny story.
Last autumn as you may recall we went to the Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo, NJ. One of our favorite readers was Billy Collins, and just last week we were trying to remember the poem he read as part of his talk, but couldn’t come up with it. So we were pleased to see, as we walked into the main room, Mr. Collins himself sitting on a ledge casually chatting with one or two people.
LF warmly encouraged me to go embarrass myself while she went to the ladies’ room, and so I did. I walked up to him, shook his hand, and told him we saw him speak at Dodge last fall. “So you’re the ones!” he joked. I then proceeded to ask Billy Collins, two-time Poet Laureate of the United States, where I could find the absolutely hilarious poem he had read, someone else’s poem.
He seemed a little crestfallen that I wasn’t asking about one of his, and I regretted it almost instantly. So Billy Collins, if you or one of your people follow the blogosphere for items about yourself, I just want to say that, while I was happy to get George Bilgere’s name, and readily found the book that “What I Want” is part of on the stacks in the reading room, I haven’t bought it. But I have bought your books. For what it’s worth.
By the way, while I have your attention: what was that other poem by another poet, the one with the punchline “but why am I telling you this?”
In the park afterwards there was an hour or two of readings.
A really nice turnout. After the readings, Natalie Merchant and a small band performed. We ducked out for food, and ran into them at Chevy’s restaurant as we were coming out and they were going in.
Tags: Embarrassments
Virginia Hamilton Adair is the poet who wrote the poem with that last line. Billy does not have his books and papers with him at the moment so that he can find the poem and the title, but thinks he may have included that poem in the anthology, 180 MORE: EXTRAORDINARY POEMS FOR EVERY DAY.
P.S. He is a two-time U.S. Poet Laureate. ; )
Thanks, Suzannah, it was really good of you to write — I’ll be sure to look for it. I knew he was Poet Laureate twice, and should have written it that way. Now I’m red-faced again (though not so much).
You’re welcome, Tom. Sorry we didn’t have the title.
Don’t be red-faced. Billy smiled when I read him your blog post!
It’s called, “Where Did I Leave Off?” from her book “Ants on the Melon.” Thanks again!
[...] title: "Ants On The Melon", url: "http://tom-mcgee.com/blog/archives/2816" }); After Suzannah was kind enough to respond with the name of the poet I was looking for, I went over to the library and got out [...]
George Bilgere has read at the Literary Cafe. He requested that I take the video down for a reason I don’t remember but here’s a pic of him from the reading:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/literarycafe/243795013/in/set-72157594285118734/
That, I must say, is awesome.
Yes, Steve G. did a great job of bringing together regional, local and national poets to our readings the past 4 years.
It’s run it’s course however. The last official reading was last week.