More in Time: A Tribute to Ted Kooser (Naomi Shihab Nye’s Last Book Pick!)

It’s a great luxury to focus on the work of just one writer any time you can. We live in the era of bouncy gloss – one headline to another, one voice to the next. But to bask in the study and consideration of one great person can deepen us in a more enduring way. I’ll never forget an entire satisfying week focusing on the poems of W.S. Merwin with the girls at Hockaday School in Dallas. Due to deeper focus on such great poems, we were all transported into a higher-than-usual frame of mind and mystery by the end of week. Only one person asked me why I hadn’t chosen a woman writer for a girls’ school – all I could say was, we need him right now. I think we need Ted Kooser, too. We need a whole lot more of Ted Kooser. This tribute volume containing pieces by writers who value Kooser deeply is a rich guide to his work and life. Though a two-time poet laureate, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and Presidential Professor Emeritus of the University of Nebraska, Kooser remains somewhat undersung. He’s a modest rural-dwelling man – uninterested in pomp, self-promotion, or flash, and his poems contain the deepest truths, perceptions, and care. They contain every human value, integrity, humor, fabulously tangible detail, and a shimmering awareness of all the connections and “coincidences” that make this life more precious. They are magical. Kudos to University of Nebraska Press for recognizing the worth of a master while he lives yet nearby. I don’t want teachers, or high-school students especially, who live in more rural, small-town environs to miss Kooser’s voice.

And thanks to any of you who’ve been reading my book picks! It’s been great fun to gather them. Thank you, Poetry Foundation, for these wonderful YPPL years!