Rozann Carter explores the spiritual dimension of the poetic philosophy of former Poet Laureate, Billy Collins, comparing it to the writing of St. Bonaventure in The Journey of the Mind to God.
From time to time, within the continuous cycle of the typical daily emails that flood my inbox, I receive a random, well-timed gem of an e-mail from a good college friend containing nothing but a single poem written by a man by the name of Billy Collins. With titles like “Snow Day”, “On Turning Ten,” and “I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakely’s version of Three Blind Mice,” my poem-of-the-day emails provide for that lighthearted, epiphany-type recognition that makes a story memorable, a joke funny, and a poem worth memorizing. While a sector of modern poetry prides itself in its elaborate and convoluted strangeness, Billy Collins writes in such a way that his poems refresh and draw the reader in rather than confound and force him or her to walk through some sort of maze of the subconscious or find a seemingly impossible key to unlock the poem’s meaning. And, upon reading more about Billy Collins and his poetic philosophy, I would conclude that his invigorating style, while undeniably effective upon first reading, reveals a depth and technique that is beautifully reflective of the spiritual life...