Billy Collins

You could say every poem is an occasional poem because walking in the woods or cutting an apple is for me an occasion.
-Billy Collins, Paris Review Interview

Subject matter for me is just a gate of departure. A poem works best when it manages to transcend its subject or at least finds a safe place to hide from it.
-Billy Collings, Paris Review Interview

Gasoline comes in gallons, cigarettes come in packs, and poetry comes in lines and stanzas. No matter what I’m thinking about when I’m writing a poem, no matter what is captivating my attention, all I’m really trying to do is write good lines and good stanzas.
-Billy Collings, Paris Review Interview