Wynn on Billy Collins

The following is an email I received from Wynn in November 2001 after we both heard the poet laureate Billy Collins read a few of his poems at the Alley Theatre. Wynn surely could have given Billy a run for his money...
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From: wynn <wynn@zenx.net>
Subject: Billy Collins

Yes, Billy was a hoot. Did I send you this poem I wrote a few weeks ago? Poetic sister-in-law Jenny Browne took me to hear Billy, and said, "That sounds like the clever sort of thing YOU would write." Never has cleverness been so much a liability. ;-) Anyway, sure enough, I was able to crank out a Billy Collins piece almost effortlessly, when I was stricken with a good concept for the work a day later:

ALL YOU'VE GOT
for Billy Collins

Sometimes laughter is all you've got.
When he or she leaves, or the leaves fall,
or fall turns to white winter...
perhaps laughter will be your company,
your warmth, your color.
And that is all you'll have.

When laughter is all you've got,
maybe you should also get a job.
That's going to help you cope
when you eventually get an appetite.
And, while you're at it,
you should probably get a body
for that job interview.
Because there's nothing
those interviewers find more disconcerting
than disembodied laughter.

-wynn
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Whenever I saw an email from Wynn in my mailbox I felt like pouring a cup of tea and putting my feet up and he never let me down. He managed the visuals quite nicely in his emails...*grin*, *shrug*, and the ever-present *smile* : ) Honest, positive, intelligent, uplifting, kooky all come to mind when I think of dear Wynn.

He would have made the perfect nurse...intelligent and compassionate...a rare breed...a fine human-being and a mighty spirit. Our Wynn...we wish you peace.

With Love,
Marie Wright