Posts Tagged ‘Collins’


Get Social Traffic - Social Media Marketing  solutions to help you expand your brand presence, increase traffic, increase conversions, develop repeat business, generate leads, improve sales and in turn maximize your Return on Investment in this "new" media. Social media marketing is an exceptionally economical mode of advertising through social media channels and social media campaigns and packages are designed to attract massive amount of visitors to your website, brand and locations. Whether you want to sell products, or offer services, are B2C, or B2B, Social media marketing is the powerful method that when managed effectively will deliver you profits and customer / client loyalty in the long run.


3-year-old recites poem, “Litany” by Billy Collins

This is my 3-year-old son. He loves poetry and he loves to memorize. Here he is reciting a poem called “Litany” by Billy Collins.
Here is the text:

“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.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I’m not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and–somehow–the wine.”

Duration : 0:2:0

Read the rest of this entry »

Three Poems by Billy Collins (2007)

Three poems from the former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Hosted by the Aspen Institute, the 2007 Aspen Ideas Festival, http://www.aifestival.org, offers its participants a variety of programs, tutorials, seminars, and discussion events that together charged the town of Aspen with vibrant intellectual exchange. Some of the most inspired and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, business people, teachers and other leaders drawn from myriad fields and from across the country and around the world all gathered in a single place—to teach, speak, lead, question, and answer.

Duration : 0:7:25

Read the rest of this entry »

The Country – Billy Collins Animated Poetry

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America’s best-selling poets, reads his poem “The Country” with animation by Brady Baltezor of Radium.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins’ popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.

Transcript –

I wondered about you
when you told me never to leave
a box of wooden, strike-anywhere matches
lying around the house because the mice

might get into them and start a fire.
But your face was absolutely straight
when you twisted the lid down on the round tin
where the matches, you said, are always stowed.

Who could sleep that night?
Who could whisk away the thought
of the one unlikely mouse
padding along a cold water pipe

behind the floral wallpaper
gripping a single wooden match
between the needles of his teeth?
Who could not see him rounding a corner,

the blue tip scratching against a rough-hewn beam,
the sudden flare, and the creature
for one bright, shining moment
suddenly thrust ahead of his time -

now a fire-starter, now a torchbearer
in a forgotten ritual, little brown druid
illuminating some ancient night.
Who could fail to notice,

lit up in the blazing insulation,
the tiny looks of wonderment on the faces of his fellow mice, onetime inhabitants
of what once was your house in the country?

Duration : 0:1:24

Read the rest of this entry »

Forgetfulness – Billy Collins Animated Poetry

View poetry in an entirely new and innovative way. Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America’s best-selling poets, reads his poem “Forgetfulness” with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins’ popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.

- – - – - -

The Poem – The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Duration : 0:1:49

Read the rest of this entry »

Forgetfulness – Billy Collins Animated Poetry

View poetry in an entirely new and innovative way. Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America’s best-selling poets, reads his poem “Forgetfulness” with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins’ popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.

- – - – - -

The Poem – The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Duration : 0:1:51

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dead – Billy Collins Animated Poetry

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America’s best-selling poets, reads his poem “The Dead” with animation by Juan Delcan of Spontaneous.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins’ popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT New York.

- – - – - – -
The Poem – The dead are always looking down on us, they say, while we are putting on our shoes or making a sandwich, they are looking down through the glass-bottom boats, of heaven as they row themselves slowly through eternity. They watch the tops of our heads moving below on earth, And when we lie down in a field or on a couch, Drugged perhaps by the hum of a warm afternoon, They think we are looking back at them, which makes them lift their oars and fall silent and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.

Duration : 0:0:51

Read the rest of this entry »


Get Social Traffic - Social Media Marketing  solutions to help you expand your brand presence, increase traffic, increase conversions, develop repeat business, generate leads, improve sales and in turn maximize your Return on Investment in this "new" media. Social media marketing is an exceptionally economical mode of advertising through social media channels and social media campaigns and packages are designed to attract massive amount of visitors to your website, brand and locations. Whether you want to sell products, or offer services, are B2C, or B2B, Social media marketing is the powerful method that when managed effectively will deliver you profits and customer / client loyalty in the long run.