Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, English professor and MARBL curator Kevin Young, and Emory University Vice President and Secretary Rosemary Magee discuss the creative process and the influence of experiences and ideas. Collins, a well-known NPR guest, fills his poetry with insightful observations into everyday life, sometimes exploring difficult themes with thoughtful humor.
The other day, when I should have been grading, I listened to Billy Collins at Emory University (watch him here: http://youtu.be/bRlftnvHO2A), and was interested to hear him describe how he does not write poetry that describes his life, but that he has created a poet's "persona" to act in the world of his poetry, which is not him; otherwise poetry would "approach memoir."