I hate poetry, as should you. I own every poetry book that Billy Collins has ever published. Billy Collins served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. Under Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.
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The Death of Allegory - by Billy Collins
'The Death of Allegory'
I am wondering what became of all those tall abstractions
that used to pose, robed and statuesque, in paintings
and parade about on the pages of the Renaissance
displaying their capital letters like license plates.
Truth cantering on a powerful horse,
Chastity, eyes downcast, fluttering with veils.
Each one was marble come to life, a thought in a coat,
Courtesy bowing with one hand always extended,
Villainy sharpening an instrument behind a wall,
Reason with her crown and Constancy alert behind a helm.
They are all retired now, consigned to a Florida for tropes.
Justice is there standing by an open refrigerator.
Valor lies in bed listening to the rain.
Even Death has nothing to do but mend his cloak and hood,
and all their props are locked away in a warehouse,
hourglasses, globes, blindfolds and shackles.
Even if you called them back, there are no places left
for them to go, no Garden of Mirth or Bower of Bliss.
The Valley of Forgiveness is lined with condominiums
and chain saws are howling in the Forest of Despair.
Here on the table near the window is a vase of peonies
and next to it black binoculars and a money clip,
exactly the kind of thing we now prefer,
objects that sit quietly on a line in lower case,
themselves and nothing more, a wheelbarrow,
an empty mailbox, a razor blade resting in a glass ashtray.
As for the others, the great ideas on horseback
and the long-haired virtues in embroidered gowns,
it looks as though they have traveled down
that road you see on the final page of storybooks,
the one that winds up a green hillside and disappears
into an unseen valley where everyone must be fast asleep.
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However, I cannot find my copy of Nine Horses at the moment.
I have a copy of every book that Billy Collins has ever written. There is one book that he has been trying to recollect and he knows that there is still one out there.
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From the Wikioftenwrongopedia:
William James Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet who served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. Under Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.
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metaphor - noun, a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” Compare mixed metaphor, simile ( def 1 ). something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.
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You had your chance with Kristi Noem and you blew it. Keep reading 'your book' because it will always direct you back to tolerance. Have you noticed that?
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