As part of our Brave Writer Journey, we learn about poetry. The Brave Writer guide have some examples already but I decided to look for other poems that we can use.
Our first poem is aptly entitled Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins. It’s an easy poem to read and understand. In the poem, Billy Collins encourages readers to simply experience and enjoy a poem. There is no need to find deeper meaning in each line. Some poems are simply to entertain.
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.
