Billy Collins’s poetry can be found in a total of four issues of the Wormwood Review –this is
not to say that he didn’t leave his mark there. His work appears in issues 52, 68, 99 and 108,
and you can see that the quantity of poetry included in each grows considerably throughout
the issues, resulting in a collection of 22 strong poems.
I have found different patterns in his poetry, which differ greatly from one piece to another.
However, there are some reoccurring themes that can be easily picked up on. The most
pronounced and consistent is his sense of humour –found in almost all his writing even when
the tone is of a serious note.
To begin with, there is his tongue-in-cheek humour in poems such as “Silver Dollars” (WR
68), “The Life of Riley: A Definitive Biography” and “A Scientific Study” (WR 108). All three
poems project a scene, or a story, which is not to be taken at face value, usually ending with
death –counterbalanced by the absurdity of the situation and almost ironic tone. The third
poem shows a parallelism between society’s drinking habits and that of lab mice, which is
funny in itself, although it does suggest a deeper underlying meaning. In my opinion, this
could be that humans aren’t that different from lab rats, and, like them, they drink heavily to
drown the thought of missed opportunities and their rather monotonous life.
The second type of humour is more witty and sarcastic, which is present in poems with more
mundane scenarios. I would also classify these poems as “Collins the social commentator”,
or even “Collins the observing scientist”. Poems included here would be “Idling”, “America”
(WR 52) and “Japanese Water” (WR 108). The interesting thing about these poems is that
they have a more critical tone, which is always conveyed through humour. The first two
poems are very simple, short, and straight-forward. “Idling” portrays a very relatable image of
a driver shouting abuse through the car window, which in traditional poetry might not be
considered very “poetic”, yet Collins manages to turn it into a very comical scene. “America”
is more forward in its criticism than most of his other poems, but there are still traces of wit to
be found in it. “Japanese Water” is a perfect example of the poet as a social commentator
because it explains how people of all age groups enjoy bathing in the Japanese water,
compared to Europe. He goes into great detail to illustrate the scene, as if the poet himself
were there sitting on a bench watching the fun. The direct criticism is also present.
Along the same line of humour are the following poems: “The Rival Poet”, “Schoolsville” (WR
99), “Fur”, “Child Development” and “Remission” (WR 108). The difference between these
and the above mentioned is that they do not show ordinary situations, but rather display
Collins’s extremely vivid imagination. “Remission”, however, is an exception to this and I
have included it here because, once again, we can see the poet as a commentator. The
scene described in the poem is sad, yet this is not the general feeling of the poem because
of the humoristic tone. “The Rival Poet” would be the most critical poem out of this group, as
it directly attacks another writer, or an embodiment of writers, who use too much
paraphernalia in their poetry. The ending is very witty and saves the overall tone of the
poem. “Schoolsville” and “Child Development”, despite being very funny, show a warmer
side to Collins’s poetry. This can also be found in “Papa Bear” (WR 52). Through these
poems you get to see the author as a “father figure” telling you a story which carries some
sort of fatherly wisdom.
Finally, the third type of humour I picked up on is what I felt was “Christian humour” or
“Church jokes”. I would only classify two poems in this category, “Powerglide” (WR 52) and
“Death” (WR 108). Both these poems begin on a positive note, especially in the case of
“Powerglide”, and end on a very sudden, sad key with some great moral of the story, which
leaves you uncomfortable in your seat.
Apart from humour there are other leitmotifs which are present throughout his writing, such
as time and place travelling. In “Names”, “Silver Dollars” (WR 68), “Lenses”, “Japanese
Water”, “Porlock Beach” and “Matches” (WR 108), Collins takes you on a trip to a completely
different scenario which often includes meeting famous, historical people on the way. It is
interesting that he chose to name one of his poems “lenses” because that was the feeling I
got when reading most of his poetry –Collins invites you to look through his lens. His name
dropping was also something I was curious about and I found that he wrote another poem
called “The Names” (not published in WR), which, like “Names”, explores, well, names.
Something we don’t really pay much attention to in real life is now the main subject of at
least two of his poems. I felt that “Matches” resembles another poem of his called
“Scarsdale” (first published in Milk magazine) in the sense that both set an initial scene
which is very banal, such as smoking a cigarette or walking to the train station, and therefore
easy to relate to, before taking off.
Simplicity is a feature found in all his WR poems, and consequently fits well in the
magazine’s general tone. Nonetheless, there are certain poems which show this quality
more than others, this would be the case with “Vodka” and “Porlock Beach” (WR 108). Both
are extremely simple, they are descriptive poems which are more like mindless wanderings
or afterthoughts. I really like the way vodka is now the protagonist of a poem, it just goes to
show how far the notion of poetry has come, when whiskey and wine no longer steal the
limelight.
There are two pieces which I cannot classify as easily as the rest because they are so
unique: “Inferno” (WR 99) and “Lightyear” (WR 108). The latter is quite different from his
other poetry in the sense that it is a more “intellectual” poem, based on wordplay between
the meanings of ‘lightyear’ and ‘light travelling’. It shows Collins’s vast imagination and
creativity; I once again had the feeling that he was telling me a story. “Inferno” is my
favourite poem found in Wormie. I think it is very well written, funny, and totally unique. The
scene he sets is very wild yet it is also very poetic. The narrator wakes up and finds out that
he has left a cigarette burning in his dreams, starting a fire which consumes all the elements
that makes up his subconscious. Although I really enjoyed it, I think I might have trouble
falling asleep in case the same thing happens to me when I wake up.
Jessica McDaid