Reading

Reading this weekend…

Delights and Shadows (Cooper Canyon Press, 2004) Collected poems by Ted Kooser. (Poet Laureate of the United States, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.)

This book was given to me by a friend at TKD who knew I was interested in reading more poetry. It was a surprise, although I find that poetry always surprises. You can read the same poem over and over but each time the words and rhythm will find a different place to touch. I can be a skeptic and cynic in regards to sentiment. I prefer Shakespeare’s sonnets in which he is disappointed and frustrated.  They are easier for me to believe.  At the same time, I relish Whitman because he is so over the top passionate.  Poetry embraces those seeming contradictions. It allows you to step back and see that things you believed to be opposed are in fact connected.

Mr. Kooser’s poems comprise a medley of refreshingly modern topics.  I felt it was a good fit for me because underlying all of the poems are life’s journey.  They are not about judging but rather seeing who you were, who you are and who you have yet to become.  It is about witnessing that at all points there is wonder and beauty, even in the simple or sad.  It moves you to pay closer attention to your day.

“Starlight” by Ted Kooser

All night, this soft rain from the distant past.
No wonder I sometimes waken as a child.