[originaltext]W: Hi, Fred. What are you reading?M: Oh, these are just some boo

W: Hi, Fred. What are you reading?
M: Oh, these are just some books I picked up at a local poetry festival that was held a couple of weeks ago. Even though a lot of what the featured poets wrote wasn’t in English, [12]it was still pleasant to see that there are so many people who appreciate poetry in New Zealand.
W: I didn’t know you were such a poetry lover, Fred. Personally, I’ve always found that stuff a little boring and hard to understand. And all that flowery language gives me a headache! I’d rather read a nice long novel any day.
M: I’ll admit that poetry’s an acquired taste. [13]But once you learn more about it, you’ll find that poems aren’t all flowery and difficult to understand—they don’t even have to rhyme!
W: Then who is your favorite poet?
M: [14]One of my favorite poets is Billy Collins, who writes really funny, fine poems in simple everyday English.
W: I’ll have to look him up. Say, have you ever written any poetry of your own? Some love sonnets, perhaps?
M: No love sonnets, but I did try to write some poems a long time ago. They were all really bad. [15] Once I spent three hours trying to come up with a word that rhymes with "panda"!
W: Silly Fred! How could you not think of my name "Amanda"?
12. What do we learn about the popularity of poetry in New Zealand?
13. How does the man think about poetry?
14. According to the conversation, what do we learn about Billy Collins?
15. What trouble did the man ever have in writing a poem?