Billy Collins - The Lanyard

[sowosamma25]

"Most poets can´t even write a simple line, like: The dog walked down the street." ~ Charles Bukowski

[PerlaGiselle]

I cried. 

[staffordlad1]

This is a son,to his mom.

[reelizations]

Poem starts at 50 secs.

[PicturePerfectJames]

He is a treasure!

[groovymr1337]

Great poem, until I looked down and realized how absolutely awful, stuck up, and pretentious the comments are.

[sewashburn123]

to be able to transition so smoothly from sardonic wit to beautiful words that speak in earnest...billy collins, you are why i write

[BUKCOLLECTOR]

The poem is funny until the bittersweet poignant ending! For those who think the poem has a funny ending--in my opinion--mis-read it. I know some who cried--shed tears at the brilliant heartfelt ending. The lanyard had little monetary value--but it was accepted with love because it was made and given by her beloved son.

Al

[Robbykube]

okay, this is probably dumb, but I am not American, so I think It is okay to ask. Why is the fact that he gave her a lanyard funny? I found the poem nice, but can't get why the lanyard makes it funny. Is it because it is easy to make?

[doIsoundlikeicare]

@Robbykube Just sit back. Why waste words looking for answers. Just let your jaw drop as he juxtaposes "a lanyard" (whatever it is) to the miracle of life; to maternal dedication; to a mother's love for her son, through illness, through health... and what does she ask for in return?

Just listen. Listen to what he places side by side. Listen to how he sets us up to laugh. Listen to his tone of voice. Just listen, let go, and laugh - it's alive, it soars, and it's good to the bone.

[aznviet93]

@doIsoundlikeicare wow, your emphasize is so concise. Reading your comment helps me understand the poem. :D

[darkelf456]

Show this to your mother today.

[tiff201208]

this is from a poet in canada shane w. 

[piehguy22]

@tiff201208 I think you mean Shane K., as in Canadian poet Shane Koyczan. He did perform The Lanyard at WordsAloud, but forgot to give credit to Collins. He sincerely apologized for the mistake.

I can see why, in this case, you might think it's one of his works. But no, it is most definitely a poem by Billy Collins.

[celticbattleaxe]

I saw Billy Collins live in the Dodge Poetry festival in DC last summer. He, Martin Espada, and Kay Ryan are the best modern page-poets, and I also saw Espada and Ryan at the DPF.

[durgadas]

This, it is a eulogy, pulled from my subconcious, into Youtube- to all my wasted moments, given wholly to me by my mother, whom I would reject later out of spite. How young I was then, and how trite I have become, writing poetry in comments boxes, and it isn't even late at night.

[wrathof]

Lehman college sucks balls. Thats why Fordham university kicks their dumb ghetto asses all the time.The people there are so fake, they pretend to be nice but their not. Their just a bunch of ghetto people pretending to be smart and are incredibly overly pretentious. They spend so much money on "safe sex classes" and giving out free condoms cause all the girls there don't know how to keep their pants on. I only feel sorry for the nice people that come here cus they too turn into snobbish ghetto F

[JerBushell89]

@wrathof ... at least you didn't try pretending to be nice...

[wrathof]

@JerBushell89 Be nice? to those ghetto fools? psh never again.

[withataman01]

Thanks mom :)

[Aimeemom23]

I try to imagine enjoying this more, but am left wanting. What a precious gift to find such a delight on YouTube. My 16 year old son introduced me to Taylor Mali, whose poem on Speaking with Authority rang so true, but there in the margin was Billy Collins. I'm surprised I'd never heard of him, ashamed really. I cannot wait to read more and more and to share him with loved ones. Thank you Mr. Collins for bringing tears of laughter and yes, remembrances of things past to mind and heart.

[Aimeemom23]

I try to imagine enjoying this more, but am left wanting. What a precious gift to find such a delight on YouTube. My 16 year old son introduced me to Taylor Mali, whose poem on Speaking with Aut

[thetracer2]

This is just so brilliant.

[benjaminpoolemusic]

Hahahaha he has such a great dry sense of humor.

[SaltyTank07]

Anyone else think he sounds like Ben Linus from Lost?

[pish14]

@SaltyTank07 spot on. 

[loosesalute71]

so pedestrian

[octopuscollective]

forgive my ignorance but what is a laureate? are there biology or music laureates? or is the title reserved for poets?

[oceanviewgal]

@octopuscollective Never ignorant to ask. Wikipedia has a good answer under Poets Laureate of the United States.

[septip123]

Can't believe I found this.

Funny touching and funny, too. Thanks for the post!

[500hats]

just perfect :)

[TheLastHylianTitan]

last thursday my Lit teacher openly addmitted in large group to all 150 Lit students that he had a mancrush on this poet.

i don't blame him.

[sylviane92]

An excellent poem for the Mother's day. I like the reference to the French writter Marcel Proust "A la recherche du temps perdu".

[Joeey]

this is really weak. he is sheltered. military and corporate workers and school children are required to wear lanyards and ID.

[BklynBookGirl]

Love it. I want to cry and I want to laugh because it is so true. As a daughter and as a mother, I'd like to say that at that moment in time (and forever after), the lanyard is enough.

[DialecticEclectic]

Billy Collins is alright, but I like the sentiment in this poem. I love my mom.

[wrybred]

oddly, this poem, called the lanyard, is one of Collins' "lanyards", and a very respectable one at that. What more could any mother want, then a poet laureate son who deems himself unable to requite his mothers love, and writting so in a poem.

[wrybred]

man i gave my mom a bunch of "lanyards" in form of clothspin birdhouses, paintings, etc. But my mom really appreciated it. I think b/c it wasn't an attempt at repayment. Our efforts in most other respects were the repayment, I think. This gift was, it is true, some token of our appreciation however. But a token and not a full payment in a transaction. The fact that we dont really understand why we do it, especially due to someone elses suggstion is where Bill dupes us. Funny, none the less.

[alakiukirbo2]

lol, that was hillarious..^^

[malkincrosby0708]

gosh what a douche, does anyone even fucking uunderstand his humor besides my friggin muslim terrorist teacher

[QueenZelma]

You are a miscreant illiterate.

[SnowFire86]

I had to watch this video for my English class and I was expecting to be bored...Quite the contrary. I liked it a lot.

[arleneng1010]

I like this poem. It's sad, but humurous. My teacher introduced me to this video. I some how love this video so much that I rewatch it so many times. I already showed this to some my friends. They agreed and said it was awesome. Almost everything he says is true...

[Paul186]

I made one in the Cub Scouts. Only now I realize how little use those things were. His poem made me see my own funny seriousness about getting it right. It was a kind of magic, though. Billy Collin's imagination makes him great.

[sallypotmeandfred]

It's interesting hearing it read out loud...I don't know if I see it as humorous as the audience did,(that is not to say that it's without humor). Putsit in another perspective that's for sure. I'm interested to hear other's thoughts.

[lightofdamon]

I find this poem to be aggresively hilarious, I laugh and cry uncontrollably when I hear this version, YIP

[n1kk1v1]

definitely a reference to Proust.

[nacho862]

i really like this poem, but there is one line a cannot understand. what does he mean by a "cookie nibbled by a French novelist"?

[ImTestingSleeping]

He means that there are little things in this world that are like gateways into our childhoods. Some people might be more likely to guard the fact of childish activity that we all, without exception, experience.

A French novelist is stereotyped as a very snotty type of person, but cookies are almost synonymous with childhood, so he's saying that the word lanyard for him sent him back to his childhood for a second just like a cookie might for a French novelist.

[nacho862]

that is a very good answer. thank you, kind sir.

[ljeffrie]

A better answer: This reference is certainly to the French novelist Marcel Proust's famous novel, Remembrance of Things Past. The narrator eats a sort of "cookie" (a "Madeleine") and is fully carried away into the past. Collins's poetry is full of such literary references.

Who says French novelists are snotty?

[ImTestingSleeping]

In American culture, the French are stereotyped as being snotty and novelists are also stereotyped as being snotty. I'm not saying that French novelists are snotty, but I am saying that the stereotype exists.

[littlewisp]

I was just about to reply to that when I saw this. Glad I caught it or I would have felt silly and redundant. As for the stereotype, I think it exists for some people, but I don't think it has anything to do with Proust's petite madeleine in the Swann's Way Cambray (Overture), which Collins refers too in this WONDERFUL poem.

[innocentse]

@ljeffrie this is the answer for sure

[anancybrown]

I love this poem so much! Billy Collins is brilliant.

[sunshiney99]

ah yes... one of my favorite by billy collins.

[RockinVin]

its amazing how his voice perfectly matches the tone and mood of the poem..

[Freeasabird17]

Eventually when they produce the movie about Billy Collins' life, they need to tap Kevin Spacey for the role!

[wherefalconsfly]

thats perfect! Kevin Spacey could almost do him better than Billy Collins does himself lol

[losttribedreams]

Calloo, Callay, what a banner day this is! To discover all these Billy Collins' poems on Youtube. Little nuggets of wonderment buried between hours and hours of pet antics, Led Zepplinesque guitar lessons, and endless political rants. It's sort of like tripping over a Ince and Mayhew Elbow chair in the middle of IKEA.

[littlewisp]

Oh frabjous day!

[mybreakfast123]

callooh, callay!

[uberpun]

@losttribedreams

Yes, exactly!  Thanks for putting it so well, Calloo, Callay!

[teddyd30]

@losttribedreams Really?

[TheCalifornia661]

@losttribedreams

Nice Jabberwocky reference

[DBIYBIMWBIU]

@losttribedreams "Maybe if I sprinkle as many words I pulled out of a thesaurus and as much of my tangential knowledge of what is considered 'fine art' as I can, I will seem awesome and high-brow."

[oceanviewgal]

@DBIYBIMWBIU Really? Really. Perhaps, you will become Poet Laureate, as well, and find a sense of humor.

[GetTiefBlauAndDie]

@oceanviewgal Because I was clearly talking about Billy Collins.

And here I was thinking that surely people who listen to poetry might have a few things to say about a little thing called context.

PROTIP: It's that little blue thing at the top of my comment.

[seanpdaly]

How can this be bettered?? It can't ! and that's what makes it great as the author is.

[rx7babe]

For mothers, a lanyard IS enoughthe small gifts are the sweetest ones.

What a wonderful, poignant poem.

[annaellie1]

I've got it so bad, that I'm going up into my mom's attic today to look for lanyards I made at Girl Scout camp in 1970.....oh well, why not?

[annaellie1]

I can't hear this enough...I'm sending it to my mother and to all my friends for Mother's Day...it is extraordinary.

[therealdrag0]

Word.

[garymai]

I love this poem.

[seanpdaly]

That was just brilliant.......... and Billy I think it did make you even

[butterquick]

As I have read this poem many times I have never found it to be comical. Although it is funny in the correct light, I see it as one of the greatest tributes and truths of motherhood.

[QuidamByMoonlight]

I love this poem. He deserved the Mark Twain award for humor. Absolutely brilliant! It's spot on in regards to the love a mother has for her child.

[ZANTEDESH]

flawless. wow. just saw this on pbs and had to find it here. makes me cry. just wonderful. i hear this and know i will never really be a poet. oh well. well done, billy collins, thanks for this post. thanks for such a poem.

[browneyedbecca]

i dunno which's more kickass. 

lanyards...

or billy collins.

[Freeasabird17]

I love Billy Collins.

[Havenscope]

Every time I read one of Collins' poems, I hear his voice as it is here.

[Shinnyuu2]

thats now one of my favorites