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• My Father Holds the Door for Yoko Ono by Christopher Chambers: American Life in Poetry #88 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  This wistful poem shows how the familiar and the odd, the real and imaginary, exist side by side.
• Raking by Tania Rochelle: American Life in Poetry #87 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  The first poem we ran in this column was by David Allan Evans of South Dakota, about a couple washing windows together.
• The Birds by Linda Pastan: American Life in Poetry #86 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Linda Pastan, who lives in Maryland, is a master of the kind of water-clear writing that enables us to see into the depths.
• In November by Lisel Mueller: American Life in Poetry #85 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  The Illinois poet, Lisel Mueller, is one of our country's finest writers, and the following lines, with their grace and humility, are representative of her poems of quiet celebration.
• Notification system live, and other fixes by Kevin
  The email notification system I mentioned in my last post is now live. Some of you will be irritated by the email you suddenly get, but hopefully some of you also find it useful. It's designed to be easy to disable - there's a link in 'my account' for notification preferences.
  
  There's also been many bug-fixes, and some behind the scene upgrades which caused some random error messages over the last few days (but are now fixed). Go-poetry!
  
• Amaryllis by Connie Wanek: American Life in Poetry #84 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Many of this column's readers have watched an amaryllis emerge from its hard bulb to flower.
• 
  Some Questions for Critical Comments by thelordreigns
  Here are some questions to ask yourself when critiquing poems.
• Green Tea by Dale Ritterbusch: American Life in Poetry #83 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Poems of simple pleasure, poems of quiet celebration, well, they aren't anything like those poems we were asked to wrestle with in high school, our teachers insisting that we get a headlock on THE MEANING.
• Clean by Jeff Vande Zande: American Life in Poetry #82 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Many poems celebrate the joys of having children.
• Under Stars by Tess Gallagher: American Life in Poetry #81 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Readers of this column during the past year have by now learned how enthusiastic I am about poems describing everyday life.
• Elegy for an Old Boxer by James McKean: American Life in Poetry #80 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  One of poetry's traditional public services is the presentation of elegies in honor of the dead.
• Work Shy by Alex Phillips: American Life in Poetry #79 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  The news coverage of Hurricane Katrina gave America a vivid look at our poor and powerless neighbors.
• All That You Ever Wanted to Know About Poetry: So What is Poetry Anyway? by S D McDaniel
  So, perhaps you are new to writing poetry, and are a little confused. Or maybe you have been writing poetry for a while, and want to improve. Hopefully this column will grant you insight into the world of poetry.
• Moss by Bruce Guernsey: American Life in Poetry #78 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Mothers and fathers grow accustomed to being asked by young children, “What's that?
• Early in the Morning by Li-Young Lee: American Life in Poetry #77 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Li-Young Lee, who lives in Chicago, evokes by the use of carefully chosen images a culture, a time of day, and the understanding of love through the quiet observation of gesture.
• Reunion by Jeff Daniel Marion: American Life in Poetry #76 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  I'd guess we've all had dreams like the one portrayed in this wistful poem by Tennessee poet Jeff Daniel Marion.
• Love Worn by Lita Hooper: American Life in Poetry #75 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  In many American poems, the poet makes a personal appearance and offers us a revealing monologue from center stage, but there are lots of fine poems in which the poet, a stranger in a strange place, observes the lives of others from a distance and imagines her way into them.
• In the Mushroom Summer by David Mason: American Life in Poetry #74 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Of taking long walks it has been said that a person can walk off anything.
• 
  October by Jim Saville, from I-Like-Rhymes
  The conkers (horse chestnuts to the uninitiated) are falling off the trees and will soon be joined by the leaves. The dark mornings and even darker nights have arrived to make the daily commute to and from work even more depressing. The churches are proclaiming Harvest Festival services and the Christmas advertisements have started to appear. This is October.
  A wonderful month of rich bright colours, full store houses and, just to stop us getting carried away with euphoria, thoroughly miserable weather
• Planting a Dogwood by Roy Scheele: American Life in Poetry #73 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Those of us who have planted trees and shrubs know well that moment when the last spade full of earth is packed around the root ball and patted or stamped into place and we stand back and wish the young plant good fortune.
• My Father Teaches Me to Dream by Jan Beatty: American Life in Poetry #72 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Those who survived the Great Depression of the 1930s have a tough, no-nonsense take on what work is.
• August Morning by Albert Garcia: American Life in Poetry #71 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  William Carlos Williams, one of our country's most influential poets and a New Jersey physician, taught us to celebrate daily life.
• My Son the Man by Sharon Olds: American Life in Poetry #70 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  As a man I'll never gain the wisdom Sharon Olds expresses in this poem about motherhood, but one of the reasons poetry is essential is that it can take us so far into someone else's experience that we feel it's our own.
• Ironing After Midnight by Marsha Truman Cooper: American Life in Poetry #69 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  This marvelous poem by the California poet Marsha Truman Cooper perfectly captures the world of ironing, complete with its intimacy.
• They Sit Together on the Porch by Wendell Berry: American Life in Poetry #68 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Here is a marvelous little poem about a long marriage by the Kentucky poet, Wendell Berry.
• Family Reunion by Catherine Barnett: American Life in Poetry #67 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  One in a series of elegies by New York City poet Catherine Barnett, this poem describes the first gathering after death has shaken a family to its core.
• The Copper Beech by Marie Howe: American Life in Poetry #66 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Some of the most telling poetry being written in our country today has to do with the smallest and briefest of pleasures.
• Homecoming by Keith Althaus: American Life in Poetry #65 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Visiting a familiar and once dear place after a long absence can knock the words right out of us, and in this poem, Keith Althaus of Massachusetts observes this happening to someone else.
• Alliteration by Tammy Knott, from Little Eagle
  Literary and Poetic devices. A series I will be working on presenting.
• Grandmother Speaks of the Old Country by Lola Haskins: American Life in Poetry #64 by Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate 2004-2006, from Ted-Kooser
  Storytelling binds the past and present together, and is as essential to community life as are food and shelter.

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