The Country - Billy Collins Animated Poetry

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "The Country" with animation by Brady Baltezor of Radium.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.

Transcript -

I wondered about you
when you told me never to leave
a box of wooden, strike-anywhere matches
lying around the house because the mice

might get into them and start a fire.
But your face was absolutely straight
when you twisted the lid down on the round tin
where the matches, you said, are always stowed.

Who could sleep that night?
Who could whisk away the thought
of the one unlikely mouse
padding along a cold water pipe

behind the floral wallpaper
gripping a single wooden match
between the needles of his teeth?
Who could not see him rounding a corner,

the blue tip scratching against a rough-hewn beam,
the sudden flare, and the creature
for one bright, shining moment
suddenly thrust ahead of his time -

now a fire-starter, now a torchbearer
in a forgotten ritual, little brown druid
illuminating some ancient night.
Who could fail to notice,

lit up in the blazing insulation,
the tiny looks of wonderment on the faces of his fellow mice, onetime inhabitants
of what once was your house in the country?

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• poet
• laureat
• poetry
• Billy
• Collins
• animation
• JWT
• today
• J
• Walter
• Thompson

[oruga101]

I wish someone would animate my poems and read them in a dull monotone.

[Jeffro303rd]

that was f#c&kin sweet

[acari27]

its a brilliant poem..very observant, very imaginative and beautifully quirky...

[zebenydu58]

@oruga101 I think it is a computer that is "reading" it. Very similar to the Mac one in any case.

[DwiteTheSpriteKnight]

@acari27 I guess some people just don't appreciate his style. They want to hear something that's more theatrical, they want every poet to be a slam poet. I often find Billy Collins voice very entrancing and full of subtle variations that mean a lot.

[oruga101]

@DwiteTheSpriteKnight

I'm not going to put time and effort into making a recording of myself reading a poem by a poet who I don't even like. If I was going to record myself reading, it would be of a poem that is more suited to my tastes and ideals, like Mr. Flood's Party or Birches.

[DwiteTheSpriteKnight]

@oruga101 I like the combination of the reader sounding so serious while reading something so absurd. While there wasn't any dramatic vocal variety I don't think it was excessively monotone or dull. It all depends what you're looking for though doesn't it. Maybe you could post a reading of this poem just to show how you would like it to be read so that we can make the comparison.

[DwiteTheSpriteKnight]

@themredweirdoshow come on don't let the facts get in the way of a good story (-: I don't think it's one of Billy Collins best but I don't think I've ever seen a bad poem written by him.

[halynamyroslava]

Great thanks

[MagicTurdd]

that was gay as fuck

[TriCountyScholar]

I LOVE THIS!! I need a person to do this type of animation for a poem being read in a doc I'm shooting. I will pay good money, per hour. Are you interested?

jaredcasey64 at g mail