AMERICAN LIFE IN POETRY
American Life in Poetry: Taos
The paintings of Georgia O’Keefe taught us a lot about bones in the desert, but there’s more to learn, and more to think our way into. Here’s a fine poem by Jillena Rose, who lives in Michigan.
By Ted Kooser , May 19, 2012
American Life in Poetry: Second Tour
Psychologists must have a word for it, the phenomenon of shifting the focus of sadness from the source of that sadness to something else. Here’s a fine poem on this subject by Penelope Scambly Schott, who lives in Oregon.
By Ted Kooser , March 24, 2012
American Life in Poetry: Fish Fry Daughter
Sara Ries is a poet from Buffalo, N.Y., whose parents run a diner. Here’s one of her delightful poems about family life for a short order cook.
By Ted Kooser , March 10, 2012
American Life in Poetry: Rental Tux
Here’s an experience that I’d guess most of the men who read this column have had, getting into a rental tuxedo. Bill Trowbridge, a poet from Missouri, does a fine job of picturing that particular initiation rite.
By Ted Kooser , January 14, 2012
American Life in Poetry: After Disappointment
Here’s a moving poem about parenthood, about finding one’s self to be an adult but still trying to care for the child within. Mark Jarman teaches at Vanderbilt University.
By Ted Kooser , December 23, 2011
American Life in Poetry: Two Gates
The persons we are when we are young are probably buried somewhere within us when we’ve grown old. Denise Low, who was the Kansas poet laureate, takes a look at a younger version of herself in this telling poem.
By Ted Kooser , December 10, 2011
American Life in Poetry: The Cricket in the Sump
Here’s a fine poem about a cricket by Catherine Tufariello, who lives in Indiana. I especially admire the way in which she uses rhyme without it ever taking control of the poetry, the way rhyme can.
By Ted Kooser , December 03, 2011
American Life in Poetry: Sleepers
Somebody tells somebody else about something that happened. It comes naturally. We’ve been doing that for as long as our species has been around. But to elevate an anecdote into art requires more than just relating an incident. It requires a talent for pacing, for detail, for persuasion, and more. Here David Black, of Virginia, tells a good story in an artful manner.
By Ted Kooser , November 05, 2011
American Life in Poetry: Woman Feeding Chickens
To counter the memory of long and probably tedious hours studying Keats and Shelley, I offer you this perfectly made sonnet by Roy Scheele, a Nebraska poet, about a more humble, common subject.
By Ted Kooser , October 17, 2011
American Life in Poetry: Mockingbird
I like birds, and poems about birds, and several years ago I co-edited an anthology of bird poems called The Poets Guide to the Birds. I wish Judith Harris had written this lovely description of a mockingbird in time for us to include it, but it’s brand new. Harris lives in Washington, D.C.
By Ted Kooser , October 08, 2011
American Life in Poetry: Tonight
This week’s column is by Ladan Osman, who is originally from Somalia but who now lives in Chicago. I like “Tonight” for the way it looks with clear eyes at one of the rough edges of American life, then greets us with a hopeful wave.
By Ted Kooser , September 12, 2011
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