Introduction to Poetry
Billy Collins
Introduction to Poetry
Translated by Qin Xuelan
I let They pick up a poem
hold it up to the lamp
like a color slide
or put an ear against its nest superior.
I say throw a mouse into a poem
See how it comes out,
Or walk around in the house of the poem
Touch the light switch on the wall.
I want them to ride on a water ski
Glide across the outside of a poem
Waving to the author's name on the shore.
But they just want to
tie the poem to a chair with a rope
and give it a beating.
They started pumping hoses on it
trying to figure out what it really meant.