From an interview with Billy Collins.
When asked: What's your response to William Logan's assertion that you humiliate the art?
Billy Collins answered this:
Many poems make fun of the pretensions of formal poetry. The ridiculousness arises from the gulf between poets who take themselves too seriously and the rest of the world that doesn't give a fig about them. So everything is up for grabs. I like mischief in my poems ... satire, fun. (Logan's assertion) is typical of taking the high road. Readers don't want to take the high road. If you do, then the company you keep will be other poets.
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If you do, then the company you keep will be other poets.
**I thought this last line was very telling. Poets who write poems for other poets (to approve?) . I know a few of my poems ("Kindergarten for Poets" comes to mind) lean on the belief that the reader knows who/what I am talking about. I refer to other poets in the poem. However, I don't write poems to confuse or be tricky. I believe more in the complex poem and less in the "difficult" poem.
I'm annoyed by writers and poets who try to remind me how smart they are in their work. I already believe them to be smart, they don't have to convince me of that--however, I do expect them to try to connect with me. I don't just read a poem to watch a writer flex his/her brain cells, I can get that from any college textbook. ButI do read a poem, novel, or memoir to be *changed.* That's all I ask from art.
You don't need a list of degrees or publications, you just need to write to move someone. There is a poet I've heard before who receives all sorts of academic praise, but his poems leave me flat. They seem like photographs of him looking in the mirror at him looking in the mirror. Yes, we know, you're beautiful, now tell us something we don't know.
And in no way does this mean dumbing-down a poem. Readers are smart. They don't need their hand held, but they also don't need to be deceived with smoke and mirrors. What I need is a little truth in life (notice I didn't say "honesty"), some feeling brought about by words and lines on the page. I need less to be impressed and more to be inspired. If you can offer me that, I will buy your book and mention to all my friends. If you can offer me that.
