 "Photo: Chelsy Lueth")
 "Photo: Chelsy Lueth")
 "Photo: Chelsy Lueth")
The roaring laughter filled the K-State Alumni Center’s Ballroom Wednesday evening. The audience, nearly 100 of whom had to sit on the floor, came to hear a reading by former U.S. Poet Laureate William “Billy” Collins.
Collins entertained listeners with several dozen of his often heavily satirical and humorous poems. The reading ranged from traditional poetic topics such as love and death, to poems like “Hangover,” in which the poet finds himself in a hotel room wishing horrible misfortune on a group of particularly loud children playing Marco Polo in the hotel’s swimming pool.
“I love Collins because his poetry is delightful; it’s entertaining; it’s funny, which pulls readers in,” said Gregory Eiselein, professor of English. “But there’s this kind of depth and darkness and complexity to his work that if you look at it twice, it scares you.”
Eiselein said he teaches Collins’ work in his American Literature, Poetry and Great Books classes.
Collins has published nine volumes of poetry, including his most recent book “Ballistics” in 2008. He was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001-2003 and Poet Laureate of New York from 2004-2006.
During his time as Poet Laureate, Collins said he often found himself too busy to write; however, he used the time to work as an activist for poetry. He said he started a channel on Delta Airlines radio devoted to poetry and a program designed to put poetry into high schools.
Much of the poetry Collins read during his visit to K-State was steeped in humor and often critical of himself and of poetry. Collins offered satirical portrayals of himself in several of the pieces he read.
In “The Lanyard,” Collins told of a time at a summer camp when he made a lanyard for his mother. After first delving into the uselessness of lanyards, Collins explained the significance of everything his mother had provided him with.
“She gave me life and milk from her breasts/ and I gave her a lanyard,” Collins said. “Here is a breathing body and a beating heart/ strong legs, bones and teeth/ and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered/ and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.” The audience rolled in laughter.
Collins’ reading was far from exclusively humorous, however. Many of his poems, and much of his commentary on them, was deeply insightful and testified to his depth as a poet. He spoke several times of the nature of poetry and of his style and goals as a writer. He explained it is a poet’s job to examine everything, to stare tirelessly at anything and everything, and that there is nothing not worth writing about. He also said he often writes not only to record his thoughts or experiences, but rather to discover them.
“The pen is an instrument of discovery,” Collins said.
He said that when he begins writing a poem, he often does not know where it will end. He said it is often the desire to discover where a poem is going that spurs him to finish it, and tries to write his poems in a single sitting.
The renowned poet drew not only K-State students and faculty, but people from across Kansas as well. Some audience members drove long distances to attend the reading, several from as far as Kansas City, Kan., and Wichita.
Joshua Mathews, freshman at Sterling College, said he and a professor from the university drove from Sterling to attend the reading.
Mathews said Collins’ poetry was “pretty satirical, and humorous. He kind of writes in a modern version of older poetry. It’s historical in that sense but its also funny, and he put a spin on it.”
Nick Istas, senior in humanities, said he was briefly familiar with Collins’ poetry before the reading. He also said had read one of Collins’ poems in his Intro to Poetry class, and also heard one on the radio. Istas said he enjoyed Collins’ work, and the reading was “very terrific.”
By Hannah Blick Kansas State Collegian
A Yamaha all-terrain vehicle valued at $3,000 was stolen from a Manhattan residence earlier this week, according to a Riley County Police Department report.
The ATV was stolen sometime between 6 p.m. on Sunday and 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, said Lt. Herbert Crosby Jr. of the RCPD.
The victim, Troy Parson, 42, of 2571 Woodside Ln., said his 2001 red Big Bear Yamaha ATV 229CC was chained to a trailer outside his home, according to the report.
No arrests in the case have been made.
Electronics valued at $1,690 were stolen from a Manhattan apartment late Tuesday night, according to another report from the RCPD.
The incident occurred between 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Crosby said.
A 46-inch Samsung TV, Sony Playstation and games and several DVDs were reported missing from the victims’ home at 930 Fremont St., Apt. A.
The victims include Zhen Ruan, 18; Yiwen Wang, 19; Peng Hou, 20; and Jiamin Hu, 20, according to the report.
There was no sign of forced entry in the home, and no arrests have been made.
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