Billy Collins: This is a . . . this is a poem about a small, trivial thing that is . . . I’m kind of using to access a bigger topic. It’s about something that children do in the summertime. It’s called “The Lanyard”.
“The other day as I was ricocheting slowly off the pail, blue walls of this room, bouncing from typewriter to piano, from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor, I found myself in the “L” section of the dictionary where my eyes fell upon the word “lanyard”. No cookie nibbled by a French novelist could send one more suddenly into the past – the past where I sat at a work bench at a camp by a deep Adirondack lake learning how to braid thin plastic strips into a lanyard, a gift for my mother. I had never seen anyone use a lanyard, or wear one if that’s what you did with them. But that did not keep me from crossing strand over strand, again and again, until I had made a boxy, red and white lanyard for my mother. She gave me life and milk from her breasts, and I gave her a lanyard. She nursed me in many a sickroom, lifted teaspoons of medicine to my lips, set cold facecloths on my forehead, and then led me out into the airy light and taught me to walk and swim. And I in turn presented her with a lanyard.
“Here are thousands of meals,” she said, “and here is clothing and a good education.”
“And here is your lanyard,” I replied, which I made with a little help from a counselor.
“Here is a breathing body and a beating heart, strong legs, bones and teeth, and two clear eyes to read the world,” she whispered.
“And here,” I said, “is the lanyard I made at camp.”
And here, I wish to say to her now, is a smaller gift. Not the archaic truth that you can never repay your mother, but the rueful admission that when she took the two-toned lanyard from my hands, I was as sure as a boy could be that this useless, worthless thing I wove out of boredom would be enough to make us even.”
Discuss
John Walter on January 7, 2008, 4:44 AM
The impossibility of returning the favor is beautifully evoked here, Billy. I love the way you built up the meaning of this magical word ´lanyard´ through repetition. Thanks!
John Walter on January 7, 2008, 9:44 AM
The impossibility of returning the favor is beautifully evoked here, Billy. I love the way you built up the meaning of this magical word
Anne Pici on January 9, 2008, 6:40 AM
Ah, but the mother/child strands of give- and-take are evened out quite a bit when a son writes a poem about amusing truths.
Anne Pici on January 9, 2008, 11:40 AM
Ah, but the mother/child strands of give- and-take are evened out quite a bit when a son writes a poem about amusing truths.
Tim Ray on January 11, 2008, 5:20 PM
Thank you….enjoyable
Albert Wenzel on January 11, 2008, 6:37 PM
How many lanyards can a barking dog fit on the head of a pin? Billy Collins is fantastic.
Tim Ray on January 11, 2008, 10:20 PM
Thank you….enjoyable
Albert Wenzel on January 11, 2008, 11:37 PM
How many lanyards can a barking dog fit on the head of a pin? Billy Collins is fantastic.
Len Edgerly on January 12, 2008, 6:13 AM
Billy Collins is a national treasure.
Len Edgerly on January 12, 2008, 11:13 AM
Billy Collins is a national treasure.
Linda Jason on January 24, 2008, 4:46 AM
What a treat to hear the poet read the work which caused my son to give me a copy of Collins' book of poetry as a gift.
Thanks.
Linda Jason on January 24, 2008, 9:46 AM
What a treat to hear the poet read the work which caused my son to give me a copy of Collins’ book of poetry as a gift.
Thanks.
Mary Jane Mansfield on January 29, 2008, 1:57 PM
My usefulness as a mother has just been uplifted to saintliness!!
I am floating with a warm smile on my heart far above mere mortals… And I too sat at the craft table near a small lake in the North woods at summer camp, and made for my mother a lanyard.
Mary Jane Mansfield on January 29, 2008, 6:57 PM
My usefulness as a mother has just been uplifted to saintliness!!
I am floating with a warm smile on my heart far above mere mortals… And I too sat at the craft table near a small lake in the North woods at summer camp, and made for my mother a lanyard.
roshni ray on September 14, 2009, 10:44 PM
What a lovely and startlingly truthful glimpse into how a child perceives parenthood…
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