Litany by Billy Collins: Poem & Video

I do so enjoy reading poetry written by Billy Collins. I love his poems that make me chuckle—like Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House, The Rival Poet, and Introduction to Poetry. For Poetry Friday, I selected Litany, another one of his more humorous works. Do watch the video of Collins reciting the poem and explaining how he did a little "stealing" from another poet's work when he wrote Litany--a love poem with lots of comparisons.

Litany

by Billy Collins

You are the bread and the knife,

The crystal goblet and the wine...

- Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,

the crystal goblet and the wine.

You are the dew on the morning grass

and the burning wheel of the sun.

You are the white apron of the baker,

and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,

the plums on the counter,

or the house of cards.

And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.

There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,

maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,

but you are not even close

to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

Here’s a video of Billy Collins reciting his poem Litany:

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have an original poem, And Who Will Lead the GOP?, and a link to my new blog—Political Verses.

Tricia has the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Miss Rumphius Effect.