<collins' "the apple that astonished parts"> 2002-11-24.8:04 p.m. The Apple That Astonished Parts Billy Collins "Introduction to Poetry" I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with a rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means. back /& forth /& frosting names are often sad