As poets have weighed in against or for an American war in Iraq, one voice has been conspicuously quiet – current poet laureate Billy Collins. So LA Times reporter Tim Rutten emailed Collins and asked. Collins replied: “I have tried to keep the West Wing and the East Wing of the White House as separate as possible because I support what Mrs. Bush has done for the causes of literacy and reading. But as this country is being pushed into a violent confrontation, I find it increasingly difficult to maintain that separation.”