Billy Collins, the US Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, is the author of seven collections of poetry, most recently The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (Random House, 2005). A new collection titled Ballistics will be published by Random House in the fall. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College (CUNY).
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All winter long they are occupied only by their vacancy.
The paintings look out from the white walls.
The wicker beds and the wicker chairs are not taken.
Upstairs and down, the curtains continue to hang.
Virginia Quarterly Review
