Poetry Xtras » "When Billy Collins Met Anne Sexton" by Jack Conway

At the time I wrote this poem, Billy Collins's book, "Sailing Around the Room Alone," had hit the NY Times bestsellers list. Being a student of the Confessional poets, (Plath, Sexton, Lowell, Snodgrass, etc.), I found it unique that in order for a poetry book to hit the best-sellers list the poet (Collins) had to deal with light-hearted, fluffy topics in ways that would not upset or confront the reader. This is what poetry has come to, I remember thinking. No heavy lifting. And so I tried to depict the chance meeting between Collins and Sexton, using language that they both incorporated into their poems.