Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time

http://www.ted.com Combining dry wit with artistic depth, Billy Collins shares a project in which several of his poems were turned into delightful animated films in a collaboration with Sundance Channel. Five of them are included in this wonderfully entertaining and moving talk -- and don't miss the hilarious final poem!
Credits for the animations in this talk:
"Budapest," "Forgetfulness" and "Some Days" -- animation by Julian Grey/Head Gear
"The Country" -- animation by Brady Baltezor/Radium
"The Dead" -- animation by Juan Delcan/Spontaneous
More at: http://http://www.bcactionpoet.org

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• Category

  Film & Animation

[PuppetXeno]

Ahaha lovely stuff, very entertaining!

enjoyed the animations but the end poem put this vid in my favorites.

[kincey moy]

Did Stephen Hawking narrate all these poems?

[RatherBeWatchingPorn]

Anyone who likes this should check out -- the art of drowning by billy collins -- it's by far the most successful combination of the two mediums, I think

[Shiham Ahmed]

I saw this video in school today.

[Anna-Maria Trudel]

Wow, these animations are amazing and inspiring.

[Claire Moelis]

I liked them all very much, but as a 17 year old girl the last poem made me more anxious than amused

[Richard Johnstone]

Five poetry animations:

03:16-04:07 "Budapest"

05:06-06:09 "Some Days"

06:43-08:26 "Forgetfulness"

09:27-10:53 "The Country"

11:21-12:07 "The Dead"

Plus:

12:54-14:52 "To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High-School Girl"

[peaou]

i wish i could understand english bettrer.

[Jean Hendrickson]

Please try to write several of this type of poem, perform it in public, send it out for publication. After these experiences, please comment, again. It's good to broaden one's horizons. Until then, a comment like, "I don't care for (or, perhaps, understand) these poems, or their purpose," might be both kinder and more appropriate. Thank you

[Joel Fry]

This is not prose poetry. It's lyric free verse. The poems include line breaks, and are discursive enough to warrant separate stanzas. Though Collins often utilizes structured free verse (free verse in which each stanza has the same number of lines--something I find almost impossible to achieve) it is possible that these poems have a looser construction on the page. I have yet to read a Billy Collins poem which is formatted as a prose poem.