From 7:00 to 8:00 PM in the Edith Memorial Chapel, Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins, this year’s Merill Poet in Residence, addressed Lawrenceville students and faculty members after meeting with classes throughout the day. While all IV Formers were required to attend, the lecture was also open to the Lawrenceville community and the public. English Master Champ Atlee ’62 H’24 organized the event, which marked Collins’ third visit to the School; Collins previously visited the School in 2001 and again in 2003.
After an introduction by Atlee, Collins read select poems from his published works; in between readings, he touched on both his literary idols and the childhood experiences he used as fodder for his poems. Collins began with “You Reader,” a poem that centers around the poet’s relationship with his readers, rather than the poet’s thoughts; “You can’t expect a reader to be interested in a total stranger,” he explained, “and so, I shamelessly acknowledge my reader in many of my poems.” He followed with poems like “Only Child,” “The First Straw,” and “Irish Straw.” He then moved to “Drinking Alone,” a poem written as an unconventional tribute to the Eighth century Chinese poet Li Po. Noting the importance of literary role models to a poet, Collins explained that “a poet’s page is lit by candles…the poets of the past. While writing poetry is a solitary act… a poet’s true companions are everyone he has read.”
Despite having hosted Collins twice before near the turn of the millennium, Atlee selected Collins to be this year’s Merill poet with support from other faculty members for a number of reasons; Atlee noted that “Collins is so articulate about the role of the artist and the reader… not all poets are so well-armed.” Moreover, Collins was a particularly invaluable choice because of his program, Poetry 180: a program that offers high school students a new poem for each of the approximately 180 days in a school year. “Poetry 180 sprang specifically from [Collins’] desire to meet high school students half way,” explained Atlee. “[Collins] is alert and concerned about the way students typically engage in poetry in a way that makes him a wonderful speaker.”
Collins was appointed both US Poet Laureate in 2001 and the New York State Poet Laureate in 2004. He currently serves as a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York-where he has worked for the last thirty years- and as a Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida. In 2012, Collins became the Poetry Consultant for Smithsonian Magazine, and also serves on the editorial boards of Alaska Quarterly Review and Southern Review. His accolades include the Oscar Blumenthal Prize, the Aiken-Taylor Award in Modern American Poetry, and the Mark Twain Award for Humor in Poetry, among others.