Monday, March 13, 2023

13 Very Short Ones By Billy Collins (From his Musical Tables)


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Trouble was not
his middle name.
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Reflections On An Amish Childhood
I was a little square
in a round hat.
------------------------------------------
Adolescence
The gulf widened between my parents and me
but that doesn't mean they lived on a houseboat.
-----------------------------------------
Another Hotel
Unlike the breakfast menu
I have no desire to be hung outside before 3AM
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Corridor
I've grown old.
Now my own name
rings a bell.
--------------------------------------------
Elegy
I have turned over
all 52 cards
on the kitchen table.
Still, I think
you must be hiding
somewhere in the deck.
--------------------------------------------
Carbon Dating
He tried it once
as a last resort
but most of the women
were a million years old
---------------------------------------
3 A.M.
Only my hand
is asleep,
but it’s a start.
---------------------------------------
Flaubert
As he looked for the right word,
several wrong words
appeared in his window.
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Dog
When she runs in her sleep,
eyelids twitching,
legs churning sideways on the floor,
I wonder if she's chasing a squirrel
or being chased
by an angry farmer waving a rake.
----------------------------------------------
Morning Walk
The dog stops often
to sniff the poems of others
before reciting her own.
-------------------------------------------
The Exception
Whoever said there's a poem
lurking in the darkness of every pencil
was not thinking of this one.
----------------------------------------------
Children
There’s a movie out
titled Children
I don’t know what it’s about
but I like the voice
on the radio
when it says:
“Children now playing everywhere.”

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