May+2+-+Introduction+to+Poetry+by+Billy+Collins


 * Introduction to Poetry**

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

I want them to waterski 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.

Malik Hatcher - I like this poem because it seems to represent people who try to drag things out of a poem that aren't there. This poem is relatable because I usually come into situations where people scrap the bottom of the box for ideas that just aren't there.Lastly this poemis very reader friendly due to the tone that is used.

Patrick Hayes- With a first a glance I thought it was a stupid poem. I mean it was a poem about a poem for god's sake. I like this person's point of view on poems because mine is very similar, people seem to try to decipher text that is exactly what it says it is, and the first book that comes to mind when reading this poem is Catcher in the Rye, because that book is exactly what it says it is. I like how they incorporate beating the poem to find out what it means because I feel like we did a good bit of that with Romeo and Juliet.

Alexander Mitchell- I believe the author is talking about how people don't try to deeply view a poem and shed light on the true points of what the poem is trying to say and the points that the author is trying to get across. The ending confused me a little but i figured that he is talking about taking a book or poem and just taking it apart bit by bit, and almost putting more meaning into it than there is. I believe that the author views this as something bad because he is saying it is a form of torture for the book or poem. I enjoyed this poem, i found it very intriguing and deep.