Delights & Shadows

Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser
Poetry
Finished 4/16/07
Rating: 2.5/5 Average
2005 Winner Pulitzer Prize for Poetry





Another collection of poems by local Nebraskan poet (and former U.S. Poet Laureate) Ted Kooser. This one was a little better than Weather Central, but just barely. There were a few poems that I liked, but overall, nothing terribly special to this reader.

A Happy Birthday

This evening, I sat by an open window
and read till the light was gone and the book
was no more than a part of the darkness.
I could easily have switched on a lamp,
but I wanted to ride this day down into night,
to sit alone and smooth the unreadable page
with the pale gray ghost of my hand.

Tectonics

In only a few months
there begin to be fissures
in what we remember,
and within a year or two,
the facts break apart
one from another
and slowly begin to shift
and turn, grinding,
pushing up over each other
until their shapes
have been changed
and the past has become
a new world.
And after many years,
even a love affair,
one lush green island
all to itself,
perfectly detailed
with even a candle
softly lighting a smile,
may slide under the waves
like Atlantis,
scarcely rippling the heart.

I do so want to like this poet and will continue to read more of his works.