Another Billy Collins’ piece (looking west)

Just beyond the flower garden at the end of the lawn

the curvature of the earth begins,

sloping down from there

over the length of the country

and the smooth surface of the Pacific

before it continues across the convex rice fields of Asia

and, rising, inclines over Europe

and the bulging, boat-dotted waters of the Atlantic,

finally reaching the other side of the house

where it comes up behind a yellow grove of forsythia

near a dilapidated picnic table,

then passes unerringly under the spot

where I am standing, hands in my pockets,

feet planted firmly on the ground.


From “Picnic, Lighting” by Billy Collins (University of Pittsburgh Press: 104 pp., $12.95 paper)