While Florida has housed its fair share of renowned poets over the years, few have reached the heights of mainstream popularity as former United States Poet Laureate Billy Collins.
Billy has called Winter Park his home since 2008. From 2008 to 2015, he was the senior distinguished fellow of the Winter Park Institute, which hosts public lectures and readings by luminaries from around the world on a broad range of topics.
Poetry with a Profound Impact
His passion for poetry education is evident throughout his life. His Poetry 180 project from his tenure as Poet Laureate targeted high schoolers across the country, and he has dedicated part of his career to teaching at the university level. His involvement with the Winter Park Institute included numerous events featuring him in conversation with artists of all statures, from the likes of Paul Simon and Paul McCartney to young, aspiring writers across Central Florida.
Billy’s poetry is unique in its readability. He uses simple language to elicit powerful emotions. He finds beauty and humor in the mundane by making everyday happenings the focal point in his poetry. He can break your heart and mend it back together again within the span of a single poem.
His work has had a profound effect on me over the years. His crowd favorite “The Lanyard” was the first poem I remember reading that wasn’t from a bygone era. I still think about “Night Letter to the Reader” on sleepless nights. It should come as no surprise, then, that meeting him as a teenager profoundly altered the trajectory of my life, too.
Embracing Literary Arts
In the spring of 2013, Billy and the Institute invited local high school and college students to apply for and serve on a panel with him to discuss all things poetry. My high school creative writing teacher encouraged me to apply, and I was selected by Billy to join him on stage with five other students.
For that one evening on an unassuming Tuesday in April, Billy was our mentor and colleague, speaking with this group of teens and 20-somethings as if we were both peers and proteges. Needless to say, this experience changed my life. I had never met a professional writer until this moment. The fact that I was not only meeting one for the first time but also had the opportunity to pick their brain and talk in depth about creative writing was incredibly inspiring. He imparted to us the importance of embracing and creating art of all forms, but especially the literary arts.
This experience gave me the drive to keep engaging with literature thoughtfully, which led me to majoring in English, which ultimately led me to the library, where, in my current position, I get to make moments like the one I had meeting Billy Collins happen for people across the county by connecting them with their favorite authors. It is my hope that, through the work I do with OCLS, I can do for others what Billy has done for me.
View books of poetry by Billy Collins in the OCLS collection
Gabrielle is a special projects coordinator at OCLS
