We saw the poet Billy Collins last night at the new Union South Building at the University of Wisconsin. I usually drink at poetry readings so that I can concentrate and make sense out of what's being read and said. Last night I simply sat in silence. Billy Collins is a gentlemanly poet; soft spoken, considerate, wry. With a quiet, calm voice , he read us mostly short, humorous, elegant pieces . I felt something beautiful happen in my head and heart at the same time. Words as butterflies, ghosts........ “One of the things I do love about poetry is that you can mix the serious and the silly,” he said. Where a poem ends up is also something Collins experiments with in his works. He said one reason that people find poetry difficult is the action that happens from the beginning to the end and how stable it is. “Many of the poems start out kind of straightforwardly and try to go somewhere,” he said. “And where they try to go is a less clear place, a less stable place — stu...
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April 15, 2011 Tax Day. The U.S. Government is corrupt and broke. I wonder about people who say that union members make too much money, when the richest of us, a minority for sure, own the largest portion of the nation's wealth. President Obama said it well: “ I don't want to give the millionaires any more tax cuts." Is it true that General Electric pays no taxes? And two thirds of Wisconsin companies pay no state taxes? And we have been in Iraq how many years now? Thank you Mr. President for addressing the problem as an issue of fairness, investments, and possibilities. Why do the millionaires and billionaires need so much of our wealth? How much does one person need? And why do some people feel that if you are poor, it's your own damn fault? How self-righteous is that?