Billy Collins: The Function of Poetry

 I woke up early on a Tuesday,

made a pot of coffee for myself,

then drove down to the village,

stopping at the post office

then the bank where I cashed a little check

from a magazine, and when I got home

I read some of the newspaper

starting with the science section

and had another cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal.

Pretty soon, it was lunchtime.

I wasn't at all hungry

but I paused for a moment

to look out the big kitchen window,

and that's when I realized

that the function of poetry is to remind me

that there is much more to life

than what I am usually doing

when I'm not reading or writing poetry.