Ted Kooser's advice on writing poetry

This is not discussion so much as a note (we don't have anywhere else to put these
on PigPen, do we?).

I just overturned a pile (no, wait, some cat did it) of poetry books and found some
wonderful ones by Ted Kooser.

Specifically, for those of us intent on learning to write the damn stuff,
there's this one that's helped me a lot:

"The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets"
I just looked in the U.S. Amazon.com's "Used" section and you can get it for
$9 U.S. including shipping.

If you want to read some of his poetry on the web just google "Ted Kooser poems"
Here's one: A Letter in October

Or you can buy "Delights & Shadows" (maybe his best) in the U.S. Amazon's
"Used" section for $4 U.S. including shipping.

I'm sure these are available in bunches of other places as well.

He's an amazingly practical man; something that poets usually fall short on.
Ray

Todd recommended the Repair Manual to me when I first joined here, it remains an interesting and helpful read every time I open it. He is so clear in the poems he uses to illustrate his points and he maintains his sense of humor, a wonderful and inspiring book.

Poems By Ted Kooser

Scroll down past the first poem and there are about 14 more poems...if you like that sort of thing. He is characterized as an elegiacal, or pastoral  quotidian. Personally I don't care for his poems as they seem to lack much rhythmic quality and appear to read as run-on sentences, such as "A Blind Woman."

"A Blind Woman" by Ted Kooser

She had turned her face up into
a rain of light, and came on smiling.

The light trickled down her forehead   
and into her eyes. It ran down

into the neck of her sweatshirt
and wet the white tops of her breasts.

Her brown shoes splashed on
into the light. The moment was like

a circus wagon rolling before her
through puddles of light, a cage on wheels,

and she walked fast behind it,   
exuberant, curious, pushing her cane

through the bars, poking and prodding,   
while the world cowered back in a corner.


I would like to see what he has to say in terms of advice, but I am not dropping 9 bucks for it. Why not just throw use some of the more salient ones Ray. Do a book review.

dale

(01-24-2016, 10:24 PM)Erthona Wrote:  I would like to see what he has to say in terms of advice, but I am not dropping 9 bucks for it. Why not just throw use some of the more salient ones Ray. Do a book review.

dale

        Yeah, well, I guess you're beyond his help then.
        But sure, I'm game; my review will cost you $10.

(01-24-2016, 10:24 PM)Erthona Wrote:  Poems By Ted Kooser

Scroll down past the first poem and there are about 14 more poems...if you like that sort of thing. He is characterized as an elegiacal, or pastoral  quotidian. Personally I don't care for his poems as they seem to lack much rhythmic quality and appear to read as run-on sentences, such as "A Blind Woman."

"A Blind Woman" by Ted Kooser

She had turned her face up into
a rain of light, and came on smiling.

The light trickled down her forehead   
and into her eyes. It ran down

into the neck of her sweatshirt
and wet the white tops of her breasts.

Her brown shoes splashed on
into the light. The moment was like

a circus wagon rolling before her
through puddles of light, a cage on wheels,

and she walked fast behind it,   
exuberant, curious, pushing her cane

through the bars, poking and prodding,   
while the world cowered back in a corner.


I would like to see what he has to say in terms of advice, but I am not dropping 9 bucks for it. Why not just throw use some of the more salient ones Ray. Do a book review.

dale

Out of the 14 listed there, this is the worst one.  He committed to the 2 line stanzas and poor line breaks early and was forced to caryy it throughout the whole poem.  If he had posted it here, we could have talked him into a better choice - perhaps 2 stanzas of a block format or something and he could have revised it.  Unfortunate that he does not subscribe to the pigpen.

The others were mostly pretty good.

Try this one:

A Room in the Past by Ted Kooser

It’s a kitchen. Its curtains fill
with a morning light so bright   
you can’t see beyond its windows   
into the afternoon. A kitchen   
falling through time with its things   
in their places, the dishes jingling   
up in the cupboard, the bucket   
of drinking water rippled as if
a truck had just gone past, but that truck   
was thirty years. No one’s at home   
in this room. Its counter is wiped,   
and the dishrag hangs from its nail,   
a dry leaf. In housedresses of mist,   
blue aprons of rain, my grandmother   
moved through this life like a ghost,   
and when she had finished her years,   
she put them all back in their places
and wiped out the sink, turning her back   
on the rest of us, forever.

Edit:

ugh - just noticed his tense confusion in this one. Jesus Ted, why do you not participate at the Pigpen so we can help you correct these minor errors before you publish?

Regardless of how anyone feels about his poetry, The Repair Manual is an engaging and seriously helpful book for those of us starting to learn poetry techniques. His discussion of titles in particular was a big help to me.

I remember reading once that books on how to write poems outsell poetry books 3 to 1. I don't remember the specifics but I find that fascinating.

(01-25-2016, 01:14 AM)milo Wrote:  I remember reading once that books on how to write poems outsell poetry books 3 to 1. I don't remember the specifics but I find that fascinating.

It never dawned on me to get one until it was suggested but I usually book myself to death when I learn any new craft, if I want to cook something new I'll read half a dozen recipes before I decide how I want to cook it, it made perfect sense and turned out to be a worthwhile purchase.

I have a friend that wrote one - it is free and I included the link on this website somewhere. It is the only one I have ever read but I have been intending to read more for as long as I can remember. Maybe this is the year . . .

Is that the colin ward one?

(01-25-2016, 04:45 AM)ellajam Wrote:  Is that the colin ward one?

While a great resource, I wouldn't consider that a book. It is this one:

http://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-10501...nis+hammes

(01-25-2016, 05:31 AM)milo Wrote:  

(01-25-2016, 04:45 AM)ellajam Wrote:  Is that the colin ward one?

While a great resource, I wouldn't consider that a book. It is this one:

http://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-10501...nis+hammes

yes I read some of it, I had a tab open for a good while, gonna leave it open again. thanks

Yes, excellent... I'll miss Dennis Hammes forever.

Solid advice from an amazing man and a true poet*:

PROSODY by Dennis Hammes


*And a lover of cats.

milo wrote: "I remember reading once that books on how to write poems outsell poetry books 3 to 1"

Seeing as how talent cannot be taught that does not sound unreasonable, I'm surprised the number is not much higher. I have read books on meter, poetic form, poetic criticism, and by far outweighing them all, books of poetry, but I have never read a book about how to write a poem. I would suggest (and I am not comparing myself to them) if one could survey the Greater English language poets over time, not a one of them has either.


dale

(01-27-2016, 11:30 AM)Erthona Wrote:  milo wrote: "I remember reading once that books on how to write poems outsell poetry books 3 to 1"

Seeing as how talent cannot be taught that does not sound unreasonable, I'm surprised the number is not much higher. I have read books on meter, poetic form, poetic criticism, and by far outweighing them all, books of poetry, but I have never read a book about how to write a poem. I would suggest (and I am not comparing myself to them) if one could survey the Greater English language poets over time, not a one of them has either.

dale

I have. Some of them are pretty good... wait, you're saying PigPen is useless?
If I could survey the Greater English language poets over time I'd be psychic and wouldn't bother.
If I could survey the Greater English language poets over time I'd find none of them had ever read PigPen.