Know Thyself

Photo1: from Masterclass - Billy Collins Teaches Reading and Writing Poetry Tutorial; Photo2: Judy Garland Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Photo3: Painting depicting Jeanne d'Arc. Painted by John Everett Millais in 1865, oil on canvas; Photo4: Blaise Pascal, French Mathematician is a drawing by Mary Evans Picture Library; Photo5: The Execution of Lady Jane Grey is an oil painting by Paul Delaroche, completed in 1833, which is now in the National Gallery in London; Photo6 Possible portrait of the young Franz Schubert 1814, attributed to Josef Abel; Photo7: Annie Oakley Via Bettman, Getty; Photo8: Maria Callas from Greeka website.

To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl

Do you realize that if you had started
building the Parthenon on the day you were born,
you would be all done in only one more year?
Of course, you couldn’t have done it alone,
so never mind, you’re fine just as you are.
You’re loved for just being yourself.

But did you know that at your age Judy Garland
was pulling down $150,000 a picture,
Joan of Arc was leading the French army to victory,
and Blaise Pascal had cleaned up his room?
No wait, I mean he had invented the calculator.

Of course, there will be time for all that later in your life,
after you come out of your room
and begin to blossom, or at least pick up all your socks.

For some reason, I keep remembering that Lady Jane Grey
was Queen of England when she was only fifteen,
but then she was beheaded, so never mind her as a role model.

A few centuries later, when he was your age,
Franz Schubert was doing the dishes for his family
but that did not keep him from composing two symphonies,
four operas, and two complete Masses as a youngster.

But of course that was in Austria at the height
of romantic lyricism, not here in the suburbs of Cleveland.

Frankly, who cares if Annie Oakley was a crack shot at 15
or if Maria Callas debuted as Tosca at 17?

We think you are special just being you,
playing with your food and staring into space.
By the way, I lied about Schubert doing the dishes,
but that doesn’t mean he never helped out around the house.

—Billy Collins

From Aimless Love, Random House, 2013.

Exercise after reading this poem:

Name a classic or modern architecture or temple that you find inspiring, how many years did take to build it?

Find 7 historical or modern characters that with your age did something special, exceptional.

Write a similar poem but instead of addressing it to somebody else, direct these words to yourself.

Be aware of the rhythm, keep it simple, vary the length of the sentences.

Send me an audio of both poems, his and yours.

Enjoy the process of finding your own voice!

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