Ted Kooser

Ok – where has my head been? Ted Kooser has been our Poet Laureate since last August, and I’ve been oblivious this whole time. Jebus.

And the only reason I know this? He recently won the Pulitzer for his collection Delights and Shadows.

And I’d like to take a brief pause here, to point this blog entry out. That’s right – I think somebody around here has some decent taste in poetry!

Seriously – I first encountered Kooser through one of my first poetry professors (Richard Cecil), who had Weather Central as part of his syllabus. I didn’t really get into it in undergrad, and it wasn’t until I was in grad school, studying poetry that I really read Kooser for the first time. And ever since, I’ve been totally taken with his work. I’m a big fan.

And I have to say – the man has a surprising amount of content on his website. Make sure to check out the Audio/Video section, in particular.

And even though Delights and Shadows won the Pulitzer, I’ve already cited a poem from that collection. So I want to step back to Weather Central, as that’s the one that I think of when I think of Kooser.