One Page at a Time

Abstract

One Page at a Time Billy Collins (bio) The Page I like the steady pace of reading—following the linear track,then turning one page at a time no matterhow electrifying the story. Even if I actually believe I am Hester Prynneand feel her terrible shame setting my own shame on fire,it's one page, then another, odd, even, odd, until the end. But sometimes I wonder if what's really importantisn't happening on another page,just as I sometimes suspect that lifeis happening somewhere else,especially on weekend nights around eleven. I don't want to consider a parallel universewhere I am reading only the crucial sceneswhile sitting upside-down at a table attached to the ceiling. But maybe a cage-like elevator is slowly ascendingon a page I have already read and forgottenor on a page I will read in a few minutesand remember only because I warned myself about the elevator, gave myself the heads-up, you might say,just like the guy on a cornerwho just flicked a cigarette into the curbing signaling the other guys to pull their capsdown over their eyes [End Page 633] and start doing the bad thingsI can hardly wait for them to doas I read about the adventures of some detective,with one of those detective names, one riveting page at a time. Dictionary You, always lying open on the desknext to a blank page or one crisscrossed with words—here's to your steady companionship and way you nudge me tugboat-likeout of a calm harbor into the chop of open water. [End Page 634] Billy Collins Billy Collins, who is the latest poet to earn the Aiken Taylor Award in Modern American Poetry, served as the U.S. Poet Laureate during 2001-2003. The most recent of his many collections of poetry is Horoscopes for the Dead (2011). Copyright © 2012 Billy Collins