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View poetry in an entirely new and innovative w... (more) Added: February 13,
2007 View poetry in an entirely new and innovative way. Billy Collins, former
US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Forgetfulness"
with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear. 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.
The Poem The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently
by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which
suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by
one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere
of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago
you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation
pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something
else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the
capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not
poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of
your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins
with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you
will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous
battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
BETA
