"Morning" by Billy Collins

Billy Collins was born in New York in 1941. He is said to be "the most popular poet in America".

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,
the swale of the afternoon,
the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,
his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—
throwing off the light covers,
feet on the cold floor,
and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,
a palmful of vitamins—
but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,
the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,
a cello on the radio,

and, if necessary, the windows—
trees fifty, a hundred years old
out there,
heavy clouds on the way
and the lawn steaming like a horse
in the early morning.

"Morning" by Billy Collins is about the speaker's morning routine, and how "[it] is the best" (6). He starts out the poem by putting down all the other parts of the day. All the little aspects of the morning are so refreshing. Collins mentions things that we all do everyday without giving it a second thought, like "throwing off the light covers" and putting our "feet on the cold floor" (7-8). The poem as a whole clearly shows that Collins enjoys a peaceful morning to start out the rest of the day. It is the one part of the day that he can take his time. Everything is not going by so quickly, and he can actually take the time to have a cup of coffee and look outside the window to take in all the beauty. 

The setting is clearly stated, even before you read the actual poem. It is the speaker's house during the morning. There is not a strict structure to the poem. It is free verse, and it does not rhyme. It reads almost like a story. 

Personally, I am not a morning person. I have mutiple alarms set in the morning to get me up and I press the snooze button every time. I hate taking off the warm covers to enter the cold, and I do not drink coffee to make waking up easier. The only thing I have in common with this poem is that I splash water on my face to wake me up. However, I still enjoyed reading this poem along with the content it holds. It gives me a new outlook on the morning I never look forward too. Billy Collins makes it seem so simple and calming.