Ted Kooser Reading
Ted Kooser reads various poems in honor of the release of his collection of poems entitled Delights and Shadows.
Kooser explains his tradition of annually sending postcards inscribed with a Valentine’s Day poem to wives of friends, and how he has expanded his practice to include any women that would wish to be on the list. He goes on to outline his writing process, explaining that “I might have written 40 versions of [a poem] before I got it done, but I want it to look as if I’d written it in 5 minutes, like a gesture in itself.” He explains his practice of employing an artist’s watercolor sketchbook to house all of his writings and collected articles. Kooser also relays the humorous stories of his learning of both his invitation to become the Poet Laureate of the United States, as well as winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
In: "Live from Prairie Lights" Audio Archive | Poetry
Authors: Ted Kooser
Date Recorded: October 25, 2005
Works Read: "Success"; "Selecting a Reader" from Sure Signs; "Tattoo" from Delights and Shadows; "A Rainy Morning"; "Student" from Delights and Shadows; "Splitting an Order"; "Weather Central" from Weather Central; "Skater" from Delights and Shadows; "At the Cancer Clinic" from Delights and Shadows; "In Passing" from Weather Central; "A Spiral Notebook" from Delights and Shadows; "Lobocraspis griseifusa" from Delights and Shadows; "The Urine Specimen"; "The Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Washington" from Weather Central; "A Box of Pastels" from Delights and Shadows; "A Deck of Pornographic Playing Cards" from Weather Central; "Etude" from Weather Central; "The Beaded Purse" from Delights and Shadows; "A Goodbye Handshake" from Weather Central; "That Was I" from Delights and Shadows; "The Hog-nosed Snake"
Program: Live From Prairie Lights
Format: reading
Contributors: Introductions by host Julie Englander and Cole Swensen, poet and professor in the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Topics: poetry writing