AMNA NAWAZ: It's been said that# nobody can fully understand the## meaning of love unless they have had a dog.

Billy Collins agrees.

The former# U.S.

poet laureate is a literary## lion of the New York Public Library# and member of the American Academy of## Arts and Letters.

He recently released his# 12th volume of poetry called "Dog Show."

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown# spent time in New York City with Collins## and with dogs to explore this enduring# relationship and how Collins translates## it to the page.

It's part of our# arts and culture series, Canvas.

BILLY COLLINS, Poet, "Dog Show" There's one.

Hey, buddy.

Hey, what's goin.. JEFFREY BROWN: Billy Collins, a dog lover and# owner who's been writing about them for decades,## he's now pulled together a selection of those# poems in a volume he's dedicated to 85 dogs,## those of friends as well as his own.

Watercolor illustrations by Pamela Sztybel help## show what's beguiled Collins ever since# he got his first dog as an only child.

All right, so you like this dog's life?

(LAUGHTER) BILLY COLLINS: I do, yes, yes.

BILLY COLLINS: Dogs like to be out.# When I'm writing, I'm part dog.

JEFFREY BROWN: When you're# writing, you are part dog?

We talked recently in New York at# the American Kennel Club Museum of## the Dog about why dogs have been# such a compelling topic for him.

BILLY COLLINS: If you write long enough,## you discover these obsessions that# you might not have been aware of.

JEFFREY BROWN: Did it look like an obsession?

BILLY COLLINS: Well, it didn't until I raked# them together, until I went through all my## poems and picked out the dog poems.

Then it seemed# like, wow, that's a lot of dogs for one person.

JEFFREY BROWN: The young Collins only got a dog# of his own after much cajoling of his parents,## and his father's reaction has stuck with him.

BILLY COLLINS: When we got a dog# from the pound, my father said:## "We're going to get a dog, but, remember,# we're buying a heartache," which was,## the dog's going to die before we will,# which is a fact of dog and human life.

Somebody said, the only -- dogs are# flawless, except they die too soon.

JEFFREY BROWN: And this became a kind# of theme in some of the poems, right?

BILLY COLLINS: Absolutely.

One of the things about a dog poem or .. could be a goldfish, is, you really# have to avoid sentimentality.

So... JEFFREY BROWN: Which you want to avoid.

BILLY COLLINS: That's what we're trying# to avo.. and -- but I do have that poem of -- you# know, I think, "A Dog on His Master."

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

BILLY COLLINS: And s.. if the owner see -- it reverses --# if the owner shares that awareness.

"A Dog on His Master."

"As young as I look, I'm growing older# faster than he.

Seven to one is the ratio## they tend to say.

Whatever the number, I# will pass them one day and take the lead,## the way I do on our walks in the woods.# And if this ever manages to cross his mind,## it would be the sweetest shadow I# have ever cast on snow or grass."

JEFFREY BROWN: It also goes# to the relationship of,## how much does the dog understand us or lead us?

BILLY COLLINS: Right.

And if we think of friends.. you don't want anything from me, I don't# want anything from you, we're just friends,## and the only thing we really want is to spend some# time together.

That's it in a pure friendship.

So many, many of the poems are just about# odd features of dog life.

One is about## when people dress up dogs in a soldier's coat# or a lab coat or something.

Another one is## trying to talk to a dog in Paris and explain# English idioms to the dog quite late at night.

And there's a poem where I wonder# why the dog gets up every once in## a while and moves from this room to the next room.

JEFFREY BROWN: I know you're asked all# the time, like, what starts a poem?

Now,## do you start thinking I'm going# to write a poem about a dog?

BILLY COLLINS: Yes, something about# a dog that I want to write about,## and I will have that much going into it.

There's a there's a poem called "Dharma" where# I am investigating the dogs.

I'm impressed by## the dog's lack of possessions, the fact# that the dog doesn't have any money or## clothing or they seem -- and that leads to# thinking that they are kind of Buddhists.## They're free of these encumberments of# money and jobs and all that the way.

"The dog trots out the front door every# morning without a hat or an umbrella,## without any money or the keys to her doghouse# never fails to fill the saucer of my heart with## milky admiration.

Who provides a finer example# of a life without encumbrance?

Thoreau in his## curtainless hut, with a single plate, a single# spoon?

Gandhi, with his staff and spectacles?

"Off she goes into the material world with nothing# but her brown coat and her modest blue collar."

JEFFREY BROWN: While endlessly intrigued by# what dogs can tell us about the human condition,## Collins has written on subjects of all# kinds, including, when he was poet laureate,## his poem for the nation entitled# "The Names" honoring victims of 9/11.

BILLY COLLINS: "Yesterday, I lay awake in# the palm of the night.

A soft rain stole in,## unhelped by any breeze, and when I# saw the silver glaze on the windows,## I started with A, with Ackerman, as# it happened, then Baxter and Calabro,## Davis and Eberling, names falling into# place as droplets fell through the dark."

JEFFREY BROWN: Your poetry in general# has a kind of simplicity to it,## a clarity to it, but a lot of craft goes into it.

BILLY COLLINS: I think the craft part comes# from having taught English literature for many,## many decades and having this# kind of Rolodex of poetic## stuff revolving and teaching semester after# semester, Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Hardy.

So the voice in my poems is very straightforward.# It's without guile and even kind of chummy with## the reader.

Someone said no line must# sleep.

Every line needs to be aware## of the lines around it, as opposed to prose,# where the sentences just drive forward.

Poetry## is a language that means more and sounds# better than other written expressions.

JEFFREY BROWN: And there's still# a place for it, even in this... BILLY COLLINS: Oh, absolutely.

BILLY COLLINS: There will always .. exercises of the imagination and gives us a new# sense of how to look at the world and intensifies,## I think, our sense of being in the world.# It makes us take ourselves more seriously.

JEFFREY BROWN: Meanwhile, back in# the dog park, the party went on.

BILLY COLLINS: It's like# a cocktail party.

You will## see people or dogs getting into different groups.

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

BILLY COLLINS: The.. barking.

I don't know.

It's just -- they're# socializing.

They're a social group, yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: So, you feel at home at the party?

BILLY COLLINS: Very much so.

I'm not# sure what my role is, except observer.## I feel at home, yes.

I'm glad to be invited.

JEFFREY BROWN: For the "PBS News# Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown in New York.