Ted Kooser is a Pulitzer prize winner of Poetry, and I have in my hand his book Delights and Shadows which is copyrighted for 2004. I found him in the library and have heard about him through the grapevine. He was also Poet Laureate of the United States in 2004.
According to the Library of Congress,
"The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress serves as the nation's official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry."
As you can see, he has a very big job in regards to bringing poetry to the public audience. I would say that is a daunting task to get paid for. How would you go about proving a wider audience? I wonder…
Anyway, Ted Kooser writes much like Billy Collins and Mary Oliver in that he does not have any heavy allusions, big complicated words, or any pretentious language. He is plain spoken in the most eloquent way possible. He is another poet you can understand right away. That makes him a great man in my book! After having picked up his book in the library I feel that the next time I’m in a book-store I’ll feel ready to take my commitment to the next level and buy a book of his poetry. I highly recommend utilizing your local library to see which poets/fiction-writers/non-fiction writers you like best before attempting to buy their work. In a perfect world, all writers would make a decent living from their ways with words. Until then, we have bloggers like me who support them by spreading the word.
http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171342
*By the way, he talks about much more than just china dishes. I just happened to really like these two, and I bet it has something to do with drinking tea while reading this book. I highly recommend you look up Mr. Kooser next time you’re in a library or book-store. I think you’ll be delighted.Thank you, and see you tomorrow for another manic Monday…
No comments:
Post a Comment