Taking Off B.C.'s Clothes (a Response to Billy Collins' "Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes.)
Thanks for reading The Poetry Salon’s Substack. You’ll get plenty for free here, and if you become a paid subscriber you get access to weekly workshops and mentorship with award-winning writers, all for $8/month.
Want to write with us more often? Join The Poetry Salon and become part of our community of active writers, re-writers, readers and friends.
Do you ever read a poem that makes you want to shout a response?
A few years ago I read Billy Collins’ poem “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” and immediately knew I wanted to respond. I was in a workshop and without thinking about it too hard, I wrote a reply that was both a mimicry of Collins’ poem, and a response to it. I called it “Taking Off B.C.’s Clothes.” I felt so confident in it that I sent it out after just a few more edits, and eventually it got picked up by Up the Staircase Quarterly (thank you to them!). Just yesterday USQ informed me that they’ve nominated it for a Best of the Net, so I thought I would share it with all of you.
Below are the Billy Collins poem, plus my response. Enjoy and, if you have a response poem of your own, (meaning a response to the Billy Collins’ poem or any other famous poem) please share it in the comments.
Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes, by Billy Collins, Published in Poetry
Taking Off B.C.’s Clothes, by Tresha Faye Haefner, Published in Up the Staircase Quarterly
Video of me reading it out loud on Instagram.
Join us for These Upcoming Workshops and Events
What a fabulous poem, Tresha! His poem has enraged me every time I've thought of it over the years. This is so much larger - as all good poems are! - than my response and his. Gorgeous! <3
Hi Ros, I am so glad you like this poem. Yes, by all means, share it!