a poem speaking to collins

Note: I had an assignment once to write a poem emulating the styles of my favorite poet. I, of course, chose Billy Collins. This is my poem, speaking to him in what I tried to make his same linguistic beauty and simplicity. I love his poetry because it is the sort of thing that doesn't always have some terribly deep and powerful meaning, though sometimes it does, but always is enjoyable to sit, read, let wash over you, and then close and put away. (ps-as with the Hamlet piece, we were to use lines from their poetry, those are what the footnotes are for)

Your Student 
written: December 2, 2004

The figures once in front of me,
Having forgotten the law of gravity, (1)
Drifted, disconnected, across my calculus sheet.
Off to complicate another unhappy student.

You begin whispering
Stitched into your own private coat (2)
A few short steps away,
And because my math has abandoned me
I rummage through my other
Unfinished assignments sitting in their respective jackets
To find a new distraction
From your tempting, quiet calls.

Your lures become increasingly urgent,
Gaining volume and resolve.
You ask me to take a bite of poetry
And decide whether its ingredients agree.
You ask me to walk inside the poem’s room (3)
And feel the wall for a light switch. (3)

But I’m not walking, Billy.

You rise above what any normal
Flawed and maturing person hopes to produce,
Scribbling your perfect, quotable pages
For Bess Hokin, Frederick Bock, Oscar Blumenthal
And Mr. Levinson to applaud
While the rest of us sit
Awed, impressed and stupefied.

You are a paradigm of art.

You are the cat that I’ve wished for since childhood.
And now that I have you
There are few moments that you’re mine.

Leaping to an unreachable limb
In an autumned dogwood outside my window
Just beyond my reach
Only coming down to join me,
Comforting my ankles with your pity
When the rush of wind begins to bore you.

(jb)

1) "Not Touching" from Questions About Angels (1991)
2) "Books" from The Apple that Astonished Paris (1988)
3) "Introduction to Poetry" from Questions About Angels (1991)