To a place in the imagination

“I'm trying to write poems that involve beginning at a known place, and ending up at a slightly different place. I'm trying to take a little journey from one place to another, and it's usually from a realistic place, to a place in the imagination.” – Billy Collins

The two-time poet laureate of the U.S., Collins has a basketful of awards for his wonderful poetry – which ranges from humorous to thought-provoking to deeply moving.  

Collins’ latest book of poems – his 16^th – is titled The Rain in Portugal – “because it’s a lot harder to rhyme things with Portugal than it is with Spain, and rain falls there, too.”   Collins reads some of his latest poems on the Nov. 12^th edition of “A Prairie Home Companion,” on which he was a guest.   

To listen, go to this link https://www.prairiehome.org/shows/53089, click on the “Listen” button and advance the bar to the 51-minute mark, where he comes onto the stage.   You will not regret hearing him and a few minutes of his trio of short poems:  “On Rhyme," “After the Funeral,” and “Thanksgiving.” 
And, since we witnessed the Super Moon this past week,                
for Saturday’s Poem, here is Collins’ 
 
Invention                                                        

Tonight the moon is a cracker,
with a bite out of it
floating in the night,

and in a week or so
according to the calendar
it will probably look

like a silver football,
and nine, maybe ten days ago
it reminded me of a thin bright claw.

But eventually --
by the end of the month,
I reckon --

it will waste away
to nothing,
nothing but stars in the sky,

and I will have a few nights
to myself,
a little time to rest my jittery pen.

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