{"id":1933,"date":"2012-07-02T07:26:54","date_gmt":"2012-07-02T04:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/\/?p=1933"},"modified":"2016-10-12T22:43:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T20:43:06","slug":"be-my-guest-billy-collins-instructions-to-the-portrait-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/be-my-guest-billy-collins-instructions-to-the-portrait-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Be my guest: Billy Collins: “Instructions to the Portrait Artist”"},"content":{"rendered":"

BE MY GUEST is a venue for others to share their art; I assemble between creators in my sitting room. Linear time and locality are not relevant.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Instructions to the Portrait Artist<\/strong><\/span>
\nby Billy Collins<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

from: Questions About Angels<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

I wish my head to appear perfectly round
\nand since the canvas should be of epic dimensions,
\nplease trace the circle with a dinner plate
\nrather than a button or a dime.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

My face should be painted with
\nan ant-like sense of detail;
\npretend you are executing a street map
\nof Rome and that all citizens
\ncan lift thirty times their own weight.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The result should be a strained
\nbut self-satisfied expression,
\nas if I am lifting a Volkswagen with one foot.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The body is no great matter;
\njust draw some straight lines
\nwith a pencil and ruler.
\nI will not be around to hear the voice
\nof posterity calling me Stickman.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

The background I leave up to you
\nbut if there is to be a house,
\nlines of smoke rising from the chimney
\nshould be mandatory.
\nNever be ashamed of kindergarten–
\nit is the alphabet’s only temple.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, have several kangaroos grazing
\nand hopping around in the distance,
\nan allusion to my world travels.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some final recommendations:
\nI should like to appear hatless.
\nKindly limit your palette to a single
\nprimary color, any one but red or blue.
\nSign the painting on my upper lip
\nso your name will always be my mustache.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BE MY GUEST is a venue for others to share their art; I assemble between creators in my sitting room. Linear time and locality are not relevant. Instructions to the Portrait Artist by Billy Collins from: Questions About Angels I wish my head to appear perfectly round and since the canvas should be of epic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265,1,362,356],"tags":[377,717,367,376,28,29,375,378,357,720],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nonaorbach.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}