Poet invites us to snuggle with verse.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Poetry strolled onto the stage half-bald, in black slacks and a brown sport coat. Some of us flinched, afraid it would throw on a long dark cloak then strangle us with thick metaphors.

Instead, we and Poetry had fun. We let it melt on our heads like sweet butter on warm bread.

The scene was the vintage Town Hall theater in Manhattan in April. Hundreds of people had gathered to watch Garrison Keillor's live broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion," the beloved National Public Radio show that made Lake Woebegon into a place we know by heart.

Keillor's guests were fiddlers and folksingers and one lanky poet, Billy Collins.

Billy is the ...