“the rueful admission”: Billy Collins’s “The Lanyard”

A couple of years ago, in a post about my mother, I obliquely mentioned “The Lanyard,” a poem by Billy Collins. “The Lanyard” was the eulogy my uncle read at my grandmother’s funeral recently, and so I’m featuring it this week. It’s one of my favorite poems about parents and children, and I hope you’ll like it too.

Here’s a link to Mr. Collins reading the poem.

8 thoughts on ““the rueful admission”: Billy Collins’s “The Lanyard””

I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother, but that poem brought tears to my eyes and made me laugh. I made a lanyard in camp, too, but I don’t know who I gave it to.

Carolyn O

March 17, 2016 at 3:16 pm

Thanks, Kay. I remember reading it and then putting it in a post about my mom (she doesn’t much care for poetry, but she likes this one).

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