• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Human Interest / Nation’s Poet Laurete has Iowa ties

Nation’s Poet Laurete has Iowa ties

August 13, 2004 By admin

The nation’s newest poet laureate is an Iowa native. Ted Kooser was born in Ames in 1939 and his ten collections of poetry have won several awards. The 65-year-old Kooser teaches English today at the University of Nebraska but in the fall he’ll acquire an office in the Library of Congress, a 35-thousand-dollar salary, and duties organizing poetry events and writing verse for special occasions. Kooser says poetry’s been a “hard sell” in this country and a lot of people get discouraged reading it, but he blames that on the way it’s taught. He says schoolteachers discourage us by treating poems like a nut you have to crack and get something out of, but there are really lovely things in poems, like fresh new ways of looking at the world. Kooser spent a career in the insurance industry but also found time to write ten books of poetry. As Poet Laureate, Kooser will work with the Library of Congress to organize poetry readings and projects to draw attention to the literary art. He cites a Colorado poet named Joe Hutchison who wrote a one-line poem: “O heart weighed down by so many wings,” and says no one could ever look at an artichoke the same way again after that — another fresh, vital way of looking at the ordinary world. Kooser, who got his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State University in 1962, says a little metaphor in a poem can really change the way you look at things. He looks at the list of laureates past and says he feels like he’s on his knees before writers so good. Kooser’s married to the editor of the Lincoln, Nebraska, newspaper.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Human Interest

Featured Stories

Senator Ernst says Russian ban shows she’s doing something right

Bill creates new deer hunting season, with AR-15s

Governor signs Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard into law

Jury returns guilty verdict in shooting death of State Trooper

A haboob, a dust storm black out, hits northwest Iowa

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa’s Huckstorf garners national award

Iowa Special Olympics Summer games set to open in Ames

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll 5/16/22

Iowa assistant coach Kirk Speraw to retire

Northern Iowa prepares for Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC