TOM BODETT: And I'm a bit of a fanboy here, but I just want to say that what you do with poetry is rarely done, is you - almost all of your poems have a punchline of some kind. And I've got to believe that that makes poetry so much more approachable for people.
BILLY COLLINS: Thank you, I'm smiling now. You can't see me, but I'm smiling.
KEN SAGAL: Well, your poems, they do tend to be - they tend to be about things you've done or seen. They're accessible.
BILLY COLLINS: Yeah, they usually start out very straightforwardly and plainly. I think it's good not to make demands on the reader too early. But as the poem goes on, I want the journey of the poem to lead into some interesting places. I sort of like the idea of Dorothy, you know, that the poem begins in Kansas, and maybe ends in Oz. But I want - a lot of poems start in Oz, and I think that's - that puts people off. You don't want the flying monkeys in the first line.
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