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Sunday, January 14, 2018

The Pearl in His Hand

I have often mentioned the poet Ted Kooser in posts; from Iowa but currently I believe living in Nebraska, Mr. Kooser was our country's Poet Laureate from 2004-2006. His poems, especially those in Winter Morning Walks, are my favorite reads, and I love to read them aloud to my husband because Kooser's work is meant to be read aloud, to savor the images he creates. Often I find that the poems lead to some interesting conversations.


Here is one of my favorites. Try reading it aloud, even if you are sitting alone in your room. You will see what I mean.

January 9

Clear and still.

Ten below zero at dawn, and the sky
like the skin of a pearl,
nobody warming the pearl in his hand
but leaving it spin on the black glass table
with all of us inside,
right down to me here at my window,
warming my hands on a cup,
right down to a goldfinch, green and gray,
no bigger than a breath,
picking a single thistle seed from the feeder,
right down to a thistle seed.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

5 comments:

  1. Ted Kooser's poetry reads aloud so smoothly like breathing rhythms. Now I will have to find out more about him. (I did and read his sample poems that are shared on his tedkooser.net site.) Thank you Sue for sharing.
    Joy

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  2. I agree about reading aloud. Because I read it aloud I didn't skim it. And because I read it aloud I read it twice.

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  3. Thanks, Sue. You've pointed us in the direction of Ted Kooser before, but I of course forgot all about him, though I remembered his face when I went to the link. I like what I've seen of his work too.

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  4. it was nice reading the poem. Normally i am not interested in poems but i liked the one which you posted!

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  5. I am so glad you all enjoyed this one. His work really connects with me. Even those who do not like poetry enjoy Kooser's work, I think.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Comments are moderated so may not appear immediately, but be assured that I read and enjoy each and every word you write, and will post them as quickly as possible.

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