Billy Collins is a modern American poet. He is considered one of the most popular modern poets in the U.S.

He is best known for being the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001-2003. While he was Poet Laureate, he created a program for public schools called Poetry 180, a collection of 180 poems to be read aloud during each of the 180 days of a school year. He was also the New York Poet Laureate from 2004-2006.

He has won numerous awards and fellowships, including “Poet of the Year” from Poetry magazine, the Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a Guggenheiman Fellowship.

His poems are often humorous and reflective of simple, everyday life.