Weekend of My Favorite Things

I finally got to meet my favorite poet, Billy Collins! He was the Poet Laureate of the United States (2001-2003) ... and really, he is just amazingly funny and well-versed. You can hear him here or here is one of his gems:

Another reason why I don't keep a gun in the house
By Billy Collins

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.

(pictured l-r: Joshua, Matt, Bob, Billy and me)

---

I also got to see my favorite live concert: Toots and the Maytals. Here we are gettin' into the groove before the concert. I saw Toots on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands and at Bumbershoot in Seattle. Joshua has been living through my two albums and my horrible singing of Toots for awhile now, so it was good for him to finally see why I like the guy so much. He has the BEST energy and his music is all upbeat. I couldn't stop smiling the entire concert. Joshua seemed to enjoy it -- he stayed awake, which is better than the bluegrass concert we went to! -- and had a great population for people-watching activities.