Matt &+Chris+M.

=__**//Billy Collins//**__ By Matt and Chris= == = Billy Collins was born and raised in New York. He is still alive writing poems and books. = He is also a professor of English. He is about 70 years old and had a fairly good childhood. He attended the Jesuit College then the University of California. I could not find anything about his family. He has earned these awards: the Oscar Blumenthal Prizethe Bess Hokin Prize, the Frederick Bock Prize, the Levinson Prize New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. He has had many books and many sources give different amounts.

**//__Style and Influence.__//**
=== Billy Collins first discovered his interest in poetry when he was 7 years old. He was drove by a sailboat and was inspired to write a poem about it. So he did. It was then that he discovered his great interest in poetry. Collin typically writes comical freeverses. He enjoys poems by Karl Shapino and Howard Nemerov. Other poets enjoy reading Collins poems. Richard Howard thinks “he has a remarkable American voice”. Some say he is daring and ambitious in his poetry. He thinks that it is not poetry if it is easy to read and understand. ===

__**// His Poems //**__ __// **Another reason why I don't keep a gun in the house** //__

The neighbors' do will not stop barking. He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark that he barks every time they leave the house. They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking. I close all the windows in the house and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast but I can still hear him muffled under the music, barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra, his head raised confidently as if Beethoven had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking, sitting there in the oboe section barking, his eyes fixed on the conductor who is entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful silence to the famous barking dog solo, that endless coda that first established Beethoven as an innovative genius.

__//**Flames**//__
Smokey the Bear heads into the autumn woods with a red can of gasoline and a box of wooden matches.

His ranger's hat is cocked at a disturbing angle.

His brown fur gleams under the high sun as his paws, the size of catcher's mitts, crackle into the distance.

He is sick of dispensing warnings to the careless, the half-wit camper, the dumbbell hiker.

He is going to show them how a professional does it.

We interpreted Colins style and wrote poems that were similar to his humorous, free versed style.

**__The Frog__ __By Matt Garcia__** There once was a frog, He wanted to be human So he went searching across his lands To find a princess

Sadly he went around his pond In circles but could not find a princess So he went on a journey across far lands To find a princess

He went up hills and down them He swam through lakes And he hopped all the way there He found his princess

When they kissed There was a poof and smoke rose up And to their surprise and disbelief They both turned to snakes

Chris Mykrantz **  Stupid Chihuahua   ** who would bother with a   small dog all they do is   yap yap yap yap the only way to shut them up   is with a    sleeping pill or maybe a bat Who would bother with a small dog all they do is   yap yap yap and poop and then you have to clean it up   with a bag or scooper that is   if you remember it    Who would bother with a   small dog all they do is   yap yap and poop and bite with their vicious teeth and then you have to   get a band-aid and apologize because your neighbors finger is now bleeding Who would bother with a   small dog all they do is   yap and poop and bite and chew once he got a hold of my favorite book or should I say it was

**//__Bibolyography__//**
"Guernica / A Brisk Walk." //Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics//. Web. 11 May 2011. [].

"Poet: Billy Collins - All Poems of Billy Collins." //PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine//. Web. 11 May 2011. .