Jealousy

Introduction to Poetry
By Billy Collins

I read through the list of poems that Nelson put up. But this one stood out to me.
Maybe it is because I remember this from Sophomore year and it brought me good memories.


Or just because I want to teach English, and the idea of an "Introduction to Poetry" sounds cool to me.
But I think that the real reason that this poem pushes it's way to the top, of not only of the poetry 180 list of the Library of Congress,
Its that it makes me want to write a poem even better then that one.

"But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it."


I remember watching that in 9th and 11th Grades.
I felt bad for the poem. 
I felt bad for the author.


Billy Collins shuts the mouths of teachers who believe that God had revealed to them what the meaning of every poem, narrative, or just anything in general.


I'm jealous because I want to do that. 
Blow the away the minds of those who have built indestructible walls who won't break down.



"I want them to water ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore."


This poem is absolutely mind-blowing. 
Billy Collins created something that can blow a seventeen year old Seniors mind.
Now I want to create something that is gonna be a tornado in every single teacher's Kansas.


Billy Collins has become Superman.
I want to fly too. 

Unleash the Fire

This is for the girl who makes herself throw up every night.

Because she thinks she is fat.

This is for the perfect friends who seem to rule the world.

They don't.

All people have problems. Even the perfect people. Unleash the Fire.

This is for the Grandma's who make calendars for the families who won't use them.

This is the gamer who plays Skyrim all day because he is scared to talk to girls.

This is for the guy who acts a smart aleck who hates being the third wheel on the date.

Always trying to avoid any physical contact with anyone. Unleash the Fire.

This is for the server at ihop who looks like the bad guy from Prince of Persia.

Smoking is gonna kill ya. Don't Unleash the Fire on that one.

This is for the mentally handicapped kid who can't process the word "retard" when his father screams at him

He may not understand the words, but he understands the emotion.

This is for the girl who plays the piano for the pit.

You are pretty talented. And pretty attractive too.

Unleash the Fire with those keys.

When it all comes down to the final moments in events.

Last five seconds on the clock of the Chicago Bulls Game,

That last monologue given by Horatio in a High School Play.

That last keystroke before someone gets addicted to filth.

Before the end of any purity or upholding a moral code.

There are those last moments.

You have two choices.

Hold back the dam.

Or burn the wall to the ground.

And let all that water rush out.

Choice is yours.

This is for all of you who can choose.

To hold back.

Or Unleash the Fire.

Reading Charlie St. Cloud

I really like to read.
But I keep forgetting that I do like to read.
And when I do read, I'm not in Utah anymore.

I'm in Marblehead, Massachusetts watching Charlie St. Cloud and Tess dancing in the cemetery.
Or crying with Robinson Crusoe as he begs God forgiveness.

When will we own ourselves completely?
Be true to what we always thought we were.
But reading changes that.
You don't just see yourself as one person.

You see what else you are.
Or at least what you could be.

I close the book that took me two days to read.
And tonight is not the last time I'll see the light.