The Poetry And Philosophy Of Troubled Times | On Point with Tom Ashbrook

You don't often hear a poet and a philosopher on the radio. And at the same time? A first.

Billy Collins can make even a bleak future (past, present) sound inviting. How does he do that?


THE FUTURE

When I finally arrive there—

and it will take many days and nights—

I would like to believe others will be waiting

and might even want to know how it was.

So I will reminisce about a particular sky

or a woman in a white bathrobe

or the time I visited a narrow strait

where a famous naval battle had taken place.

Then I will spread out on a table

a large map of my world

and explain to the people of the future

in their pale garments what it was like—

how mountains rose between the valleys

and this was called geography,

how boats loaded with cargo plied the rivers

and this was known as commerce,

how the people from this pink area

crossed over into this light-green area

and set fires and killed whoever they found

and this was called history—

and they will listen, mild-eyed and silent,

as more of them arrive to join the circle

like ripples moving toward,

not away from, a stone tossed into a pond

New Yorker

The Poetry And Philosophy Of Troubled Times | On Point with Tom Ashbrook

heaven all along

On Fresh Air the other day, Billy Collins noted Emily Dickinson's "radical" style of free-thinking, as evidenced by this poem:

SOME keep the Sabbath going to church;
I keep it staying at home,
With a bobolink for a chorister,
And an orchard for a dome.
Some keep the Sabbath in surplice;
I just wear my wings,
And instead of tolling the bell for church,
Our little sexton sings.
God preaches,—a noted clergyman,—
And the sermon is never long;
So instead of getting to heaven at last,
I ’m going all along!

Pagan poetry: there's none better.

Jennifer Hecht, herself a pagan poet of the first rank, has lots to say about Emily and many others in Doubt: A History. They both deserve shelf-space in the Essential Freethought Library.

[CFI's alternate lists]

Forgetfulness

Billy Collins hits too close to home here, but I'm laughing anyway.

(Studies show, by the way, that caffeine is not the miracle fix for this after all... but supplemental sleep may be. Billy and I don't want to hear it, we'd rather buzz around on espresso.)