Ted Kooser
Last weekend while browsing in the University Book Shop I came across a poetry book by a guy called Ted Kooser. His name was familiar as I receive a weekly email from American Life in Poetry which features a poem by a contemporary American poet and Ted gives a brief introduction to the poem. Anyway I treated myself to his book, Delights & Shadows, and I’ve spent a delicious week falling in love with Ted , well his words actually! During the week I’ve listened to Ted reading via you tube and he comes across as a very unpretentious, sincere guy. Using my track and trace skills, which I’ve honed since setting up PitWR, I found his email address and tossed one off to him thinking well it’s worth a try. AND this morning I received a reply; Great fun to get an email from New Zealand! Sure, feel free to use either or both of those poems – – – – –
So, along with the winning poets from the PitWR poetry competition I’ll feature one of Ted’s poems in the winter edition of PitWR. I know we’re just moving into autumn but hey it’s always good to have something to look forward to!
Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ) 
Ted Kooser is one of my poetry heroes. In the foreword to the anthology ‘How to Eat a Poem’ he writes: “A poem, like food, can nourish us. It can be an apple, a hamburger, a salad, or a four-course meal. But it can also be popcorn or a piece of candy. To eat a poem is to read it and swallow it whole. The more we read poetry, the more we get from each poem, and over time, we develop a life-affirming relationship to poetry.” And PitWR is helping to provide that nourishment. Go well. Go lyrically.
Cheers Greg. Through my internet meanderings, searching for suitable PitWR poems, I’ve met so many poets – it’s great making those connections.