Introduction to Poetry
by 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.
the perfect time for a nap
by Austin Pfeiffer
the perfect time for a nap
is after a mug of coffee is aggressively sipped
in the mid-day,
the sleepy hours between one and one-thirty p.m.
when the wind is bored and the sun is high,
and very little can be accomplished
by way of experiencing each other
in a meal or under dusk or at the sun’s rising.
and then you wake-up and ride the tide
coming in, with its coolness and colors
and days closing radio programs
iced tea, french kisses, dog walks,
and hopefully the satisfaction of a harvest.
austin pfeiffer 