Does anyone know of a poet(s) whose style is comparable to Billy Collins?
Both Pinsky and Collins like to write in a rambling, discursive manner, and often like to include a joke. Pinsky is however much more of a traditional poet, though not formal. Collins has gone so far to the extreme informality that I’ve read one essay that actually describes him as anti-poet, a title now frequently attributed to him. For a poem in the mode of Collins, I’d try out “Impossible to Tell”. It is more formal, more iambic, but it is quite discursive. Much more layered, I feel, than anything Collins as tried, but both are nice.
