Thursday, March 16, 2023

A Gathering of Poetry: March 2023

It's the third Thursday of the month so I'd like to welcome you to A Gathering of Poetry. I had some trouble finding a poem this month, but as soon as I came upon this one, I knew this was what I wanted to share. It made me laugh and conjured up some lovely imagery at the same time.

Cheerios
by Billy Collins

One bright morning in a restaurant in Chicago
as I waited for my eggs and toast,
I opened the Tribune only to discover
that I was the same age as Cheerios.

Indeed, I was a few months older than Cheerios
for today, the newspaper announced,
was the seventieth birthday of Cheerios
whereas mine had occurred earlier in the year.

Already I could hear them whispering
behind my stooped and threadbare back,
Why that dude’s older than Cheerios
the way they used to say

Why that’s as old as the hills,
only the hills are much older than Cheerios
or any American breakfast cereal,
and more noble and enduring are the hills,

I surmised as a bar of sunlight illuminated my orange juice.

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Collins, Billy, "Cheerios", Poetry Magazine, September 2012. 
You can read more about the poet here
Just fyi, Cheerios debuted as Cheeri-Oats in 1941 (the year Billy Collins was born), making them both 82 years old. 

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Thanks for reading and joining us for our monthly Gathering of Poetry. Be sure to visit Kym and Kat so you can gather more poetry and you can add your link below if you would like to share one of your favorite poems. The more the merrier!

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8 comments:

  1. It takes a talented poet to write a good poem about Cheerios! Thanks for the chuckle this gave me this morning (would've been even funnier had I had Cheerios for breakfast)!

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  2. I love Billy Collins. And I've always particularly loved this poem about Cheerios . . . maybe because I celebrate my birth in the same year as Barbie, so I am reminded of how old we are - together - at every one of our milestone birthdays. (This year's isn't a milestone, but just wait until next year . . . when we both qualify for Medicare!) Thanks for sharing such a great poem, Bonny.

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  3. I simply adore Billy Collins! (and I almost picked a Billy Collins poem to share today!) I love how he can make sublime the ordinary. I frequently have a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast and now I will contemplate them with age! (I am a bit younger than Cheerios, but Pop Tarts, Doritos and I share a birth year! Now, how's that for a combination!! LOL)

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  4. I think it's fun to consider things the same age as we are. For me, it's The Sound of Music. Thanks for the wonderful Billy Collins poem.

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  5. Billy Collins always makes me smile. What a great poem.

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  6. Ah cheerios! I ate them for decades and now it's oatmeal. What a lovely poem!

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  7. What a lovely poem, I had never heard of Billy Collins
    Jillxo

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  8. sigh ... Billy Collins is the 82 year-old I aspire to be. (and apparently I need to find out what pop culture icons share my birth year!)

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