Reaper (and Why I Love Billy Collins)

REAPER
by Billy Collins from The Trouble with Poetry (Random House)

As I drove north along a country road
on a bright spring morning
I caught the look of a man on the roadside
who was carrying an enormous scythe on his shoulder.

He was not wearing a long black cloak
with a hood to conceal his skull-
rather a torn white tee-shirt
and a pair of loose khaki trousers.

But still, as I flew past him,
he turned and met my glance
as if I had an appointment in Samarra,
not just the usual lunch at the Raccoon Lodge.

There was no sign I could give him
in that instant-no casual wave,
or thumbs-up, no two-fingered V
that would ease the jolt of fear

whose voltage ran from the ankles
to my scalp-just the glimpse,
the split-second lock of the pupils
like catching the eye of a stranger on a passing train.

And there was nothing to do
but keep driving, turn off the radio,
and notice how white the houses were,
how red the barns, and green the sloping fields.

Since some people may still be rubbing away a lingering smudge of ashes from their foreheads this morning, I decided to indulge in a memento mori poem.  So of course, I turned to the master of this theme-- Billy Collins.   I love Billy Collins.  I love Billy Collins for many reasons.  I love the way he is amused by words and phrases, and turns that delight into verse that, in turn, delights me.  I love the way he finds poetry in the ordinary bits and pieces of life-- an old school photo, the cracks in a ceiling, a vase of white tulips, patterns in the grain of wood or woof of carpet.  And I also love the way he writes about death.  A lot.  If you're looking for a poem about remembering mortality, Billy Collins is your go to guy.  I finally chose The Reaper because I think it encapsulates what I love about his poetry:  he notices things.  And in turn, he reminds me that my time to be awake, truly awake, in this world is finite, and I'd better start noticing things now.   

So onto the questions. . . .
     Who (or what) helps you notice things?
     What are you noticing today?