Editor's note: Mr. Kooser has not (yet) joined our site, but we decided to make a user account for him to post the american life in poetry series under. We hope he decides to join us! 
Hailed by Dana Gioia as a writer "who has written more perfect poems than any poet of his generation," Kooser is widely praised for his plainspoken style, his gift for metaphor, and his quiet discoveries of beauty in ordinary things. Reviewing Weather Central for Poetry, poet and critic David Baker wrote: "Kooser documents the dignities, habits, and small griefs of daily life, our hunger for connection, our struggle to find balance in natural and unnaturally human worlds." In announcing his appointment as Poet Laureate, Librarian of Congress James Billington said, "Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways."
Ted Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, in 1939. He received his B.A. from Iowa State and his M.A. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
He is the author of a number of collections of poetry, including Flying at Night (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005), Delights & Shadows (Copper Canyon, 2004); Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry (Copper Canyon, 2003) written with fellow poet and longtime friend, Jim Harrison; Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison (2000), which won the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for poetry; Weather Central (1994); One World at a Time (1985); and Sure Signs (1980). His nonfiction books include The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets (University of Nebraska Press, 2005) and Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps (University of Nebraska Press, 2002).
His many honors include two NEA fellowships in poetry, a Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize from Columbia, the Boatwright Prize from Shenandoah, the Pulitzer Prize, and an appointment as U. S. Poet Laureate.
He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.
Hailed by Dana Gioia as a writer "who has written more perfect poems than any poet of his generation," Kooser is widely praised for his plainspoken style, his gift for metaphor, and his quiet discoveries of beauty in ordinary things. Reviewing Weather Central for Poetry, poet and critic David Baker wrote: "Kooser documents the dignities, habits, and small griefs of daily life, our hunger for connection, our struggle to find balance in natural and unnaturally human worlds." In announcing his appointment as Poet Laureate, Librarian of Congress James Billington said, "Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways."
Ted Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, in 1939. He received his B.A. from Iowa State and his M.A. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
He is the author of a number of collections of poetry, including Flying at Night (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005), Delights & Shadows (Copper Canyon, 2004); Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry (Copper Canyon, 2003) written with fellow poet and longtime friend, Jim Harrison; Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison (2000), which won the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for poetry; Weather Central (1994); One World at a Time (1985); and Sure Signs (1980). His nonfiction books include The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets (University of Nebraska Press, 2005) and Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps (University of Nebraska Press, 2002).
His many honors include two NEA fellowships in poetry, a Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize from Columbia, the Boatwright Prize from Shenandoah, the Pulitzer Prize, and an appointment as U. S. Poet Laureate.
He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.
- Last seen on Apr 2 5:34 PM. Member since March 29.
- I am a 69 year old man from Nebraska (United States)
- When I'm not writing, I'm a Professional Poet.
- Visit my homepage at www.americanlifeinpoetry.org
- I support the site as a silver member
- I have 209 columns
Guest Book
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melodytcromer : To The Master on August 7I along with so many others stopped by to tell you I love your poetry and do hope you will join us on allpoetry because it is the way of man and beast the challenge is what we all do seek! Thank You For Sharing Your Poems With All Of Us! I am amazed and in shock and awe at the creativity of one such as you. I strive to see the moon and stars as they are! melodytcromer@yahoo.com
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adios muchachos : Dear Mr Kooser on July 29I'd give all the poems I've ever written for two good ears of corn!
Shucks, one will due just fine!
John Johnson(that's "S-O-N")
Great to have you aboard here, in any capacity!
John -
Yvette Champ : Dearest Poet... on July 12Where have I been all of my life? Despite a life-long love affair with Mistress Poetry I have only recently discovered your wonderful dancing words and those of whom you present to us via these columns. I shall not see it as a loss that I never knew of your creativity before but simply enjoy the pleasure of discovery, of unearthing boxes of treasure, shiny, golden gems that twinkle star-bright by day and by night.
It would be an honour for us all here within our poetic community should you ever join rather than hold an honourary account, but beware, allpoetry is as addictive as the siren's call is to sailors, even though I am in a degree of pain with an injury and it hurts to type I have logged in to savour the soul-food of freeverse, prose, words that are coloured by the flight they take within the mind's eye soaring the stratosphere of the imagination.
I am now an ardent fan and look forward to discovering more of your penmanship and those that you present to us as gifts to be shared again and again.
Yours Sincerely,
Yvette
( a humble word-purger from across the pond)
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Mornwen on July 10Well, Sir, if you ever join I would like to ask you a few questions about your work. Thank you for writing them.
