Forgetfulness: The name of the author is the first to go, followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel, which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of. It is as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the Southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village, where there are no phones. Long ago, you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and you watched the Quadratic Equation pack its bag. And even now, as you’ve memorized the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower, perhaps, the address of an Uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away, down a dark mythological river, whose name begins with an “L” as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion, where you will join those who have forgotten even how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night, to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart. – Billy Collins, former two-term U.S. Poet Laureate

It is difficult to resist writing out the entire script of Collin’s TEDTalk, much as I might want to because it is so great. Instead I hope that I can gently, poetically, lure you away from whatever you are doing to listen to this wise, charming, witty, childlike and brilliant poet talk about his collaboration with the Sundance Channel, which took several of Collins’ poems and animated them, making them immediate, accessible and inviting, making them seem, well, not like poetry at all, but more like thoughts we all have every day about everything, only we just don’t know it, and if we did, we couldn’t put those meandering thoughts down on paper with the particular brilliance of Collins, for if we could that would make us all poets now, wouldn’t it? But we aren’t poets, are we? But Collins is, and thank God for that.

I have always loved poetry and poets. I am in awe of the craft and those who take on the mastery of it. And I share this intriguing TEDTalk with you today in honor of renowned poet Adrienne Rich, who died on Tuesday at age 82, and about whose extraordinary life you can read here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/books/adrienne-rich-feminist-poet-and-author-dies-at-82.html?pagewanted=1&hpw

Watch.

http://www.ted.com/talks/billy_collins_everyday_moments_caught_in_time.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2012-03-28&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email