In American Life in Poetry, featured every Tuesday on the back page of the Lancaster New Era, Ted Kooser selects a poem written by a contemporary poet that offers insights — both big and small — into life.
But on Monday, Kooser, former Poet Laureate of the United States, will be offering his own insights as he reads his poems during an 8 p.m. talk at Elizabethtown College's Leffler Chapel.
With a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for "Delights & Shadows," two terms as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (2004-2006), and 11 books of poetry, Kooser has plenty of insight to offer.
"I'll read some poems, talk about poetry, and try to answer questions and help student writers," Kooser said during a recent e-mail interview.
Kooser, who was born in Ames, Iowa in 1939 and has spent his whole life in Iowa and Nebraska, is lauded for his clear and plain style of writing.
The Philadelphia Inquirer called him "an oracle of the ordinary," and Elizabeth Lund, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, said, "Ordinary moments are the impetus for art. His poems are like flashlights illuminating small dramas: a father watching his son get married; a tattoo that has faded; a brown recluse spider walking inside the bathtub. The setting may be rural America, but the scene is universal."
"I sometimes feel quite alone on my quest for clear writing, since many literary artists don't believe in that," he writes. "But I have always wanted to reach people, and I think you do that by being direct and clear, not coy and devious."
While Kooser sees "an enormous audience for poetry," he also knows that some people can be intimidated by it.
"Poetry has been mistaught by many teachers for many years, taught as if it were a problem that needed to be solved, and that the answer had to be right or wrong," Kooser writes. "This discouraged lots of students from reading poems, and they carry that discouragement into adulthood."
He hopes American Life in Poetry can help change that.
"I try to choose poems that I think an average newspaper reader can appreciate, and my agenda is to show people that poetry can be an enjoyable experience."
Although he spent many years as an executive at an insurance company, Kooser has been writing poetry seriously most of his life.
"I committed myself to poetry when I was still in my teens, and it has been my primary work all these years," he writes. "The insurance job merely paid the bills. I never liked the job but knew that it was necessary."
He writes every day from 4:30 to 7 a.m.
"(Most) mornings I fail to write anything worth keeping," he admits. "But it is important to be standing ready with your pen when the good one comes along, once or twice a month."
Kooser's talk is sponsored by the Elizabethtown College Poetry Series. Admission is free, but tickets are required. Call 361-4757.
IF YOU GOWhat: Talk by former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser
When: Monday at 8 p.m.
Where: Elizabethtown College
Admission: Free, but tickets are required.
CONTACT US:
jholahan@LNPnews.com or 481-6016
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