Loc: Poetry 180: Birthday

Poetry 180 is designed to make it easy for students to hear or read a poem each day of the 180 days of the school year. Poet laureate Billy Collins has selected these poems with high school students in mind.

"Introduction To Poetry" is, appropriately, the first poem in the Poetry 180 site. Collins describes how he wishes students would read poetry, as opposed to the way they are trained to read it.

The non-prose piece describes a thirtieth birthday candle being blown out and the thoughts surrounding this event.

This poem expresses the events to come after turning age thirty.

In this non-prose piece, the poet shares his experience with a birthday passing without much celebration.

This eight-stanza poem describes a neglected fruit tree that will not bear healthy fruit.

This seven-stanza poem includes words and phrases that are commonly associated wit the weather.

This eight-stanza poem describes the solo sung by a junior high student.

This poem explains how the monkey crosses a river without getting hurt.

This single-stanza poem tells a story from the poet's imagined news story.