[This review originally appeared on Savvy Verse & Wit on March 18, 2011]
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser won the Pulitzer Prize for Delights & Shadows, which was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2004. Kooser’s poetry is what one would call “accessible” because it doesn’t take much deciphering or pondering to get at least a surface understanding, though some of his poems go much deeper.
Delights & Shadows is a collection of quiet poems touching upon such themes as memory, aging, death, and nature. Kooser obviously spends a lot of time observing his surroundings, and many of his poems bring ordinary objects or simple moments to life. When Kooser looks at the world, he sees things that many of us would miss, and the descriptions of what he sees are fascinating. In “Tattoo,” Kooser describes an old man browsing a yard sale and contemplates his past after he sees a tough-guy tattoo on his arm. In “A Rainy Morning,” he compares a woman pushing herself in a wheelchair to a pianist, writing “So expertly she plays the chords/of this difficult music she has mastered” (page 15).
Kooser manages to say so much in just a line or two. In “Father,” remembering his father’s illness, he writes “you have been gone for twenty years,/and I am glad for all of us, although/I miss you every day” (page 36). In “Horse,” he calls a horse “the 19th century” (page 56), which calls to mind civilization’s past dependence on the animal. Other poems compare a pegboard to ancient cave drawings, describe the moment in which a bike rider pedals off, and use a spiral notebook to conjure memories of the past.
Delights & Shadows also includes a couple of narrative poems, poems that tell a story in verse. In “Pearl,” Kooser talks about visiting his mother’s childhood playmate to tell her that his mother has died. My favorite poem in the collection is “The Beaded Purse,” about a man taking home the coffin containing the body of his daughter, who’d left home to pursue an acting career and hadn’t been home in years.
Kooser is a master of quiet observation and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. In Delights & Shadows, he describes the delights in these simple things, as well as the shadows of the past that these objects and observations conjure up.
Delights & Shadows was published by Copper Canyon Press, which was founded in 1972 and publishes only poetry. The company’s pressmark is the Chinese character for poetry, which stands for “word” and “temple.”
Disclosure: I borrowed Delights & Shadows from Serena to review for Independent and Small Press Month. I am an IndieBound affiliate and an Amazon affiliate.
© 2011 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I’m going to request this book from the library immediately – thank you for this review!
LikeLike
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I definitely want to read more of Kooser’s work.
LikeLike
I love Ted Kooser, and have every single one of his books. Delights & Shadows is a favorite!
Happy weekend, Anna.
LikeLike
I really need to read his other collections. I can see why this one won the Pulitzer!
LikeLike
The themes in this book interest me. I don’t read enough poetry and I think this book would be a great way to do more of it. Thanks for highlighting it.
LikeLike
This is the perfect book for readers who don’t read too much poetry. I really felt like I could get what he was aiming for after the first or second reading, and that’s about the number of times I want to read a poem before moving on to the next one. I do go back and read my favorite poems, though.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed this collection as well, and I like that the symbol for the press is a Chinese character for poetry….nice little tidbit of information.
LikeLike
Thanks for encouraging me to read it. I was a little nervous that it was a Pulitzer winner…thought it might be a bit over my head, but I was worried for nothing!
LikeLike
This sounds like a moving collection of poetry.
LikeLike
These poems definitely are moving.
LikeLike
Sounds wonderful…Serena has given me a few suggestions as to where to start with poetry.
LikeLike
She’s always finding new and interesting poetry collections!
LikeLike
I like how this poet is able to say a lot with just a few (choice) words. Excellent review, Anna!
LikeLike
Thanks, Suko!
LikeLike
[…] Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser 2. The Poets Laureate Anthology edited by Elizabeth Hun Schmidt hosted by My Love […]
LikeLike
Nice to see a review of the fantastic Ted Kooser. He isn’t well known at all in the UK but deserves to be. I have all his collections and can’t think of one poor poem in them. He edits a web site called American Life in Poetry. A weekly poem chosen by Ted. If anyone reading likes Ted Kooser’s work, you’ll like the web site as the poems are often similar to his in tone and style: http://www.americanlifeinpoetry.org/columns/archive.html
LikeLike
Thanks! Will have to check out that site. This was my first experience with Kooser, but definitely not my last!
LikeLike
[…] many ways, his keen observations about life reminded me of Ted Kooser’s Delights & Shadows. Nudelman’s narrative poems come to life, like in “Father’s Cobra,” which […]
LikeLike
[…] From my review: […]
LikeLike