Ted Kooser

The American poet Ted Kooser has written hundreds of poems about anything from his family to the rural landscapes in the Midwest. Many of his poems can be easily understood by the entire population because of their simple metaphors and Kooser’s strength of being able to communicate with readers. While Kooser’s poetry can be understood without knowledge of his personal life, it is beneficial to know more about his personal life; this allows the readers make deeper connections and develop a better understanding. Ted Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa in 1939. As a teenager, Kooser enjoyed writing, and it was then when he decided he would become a famous poet. After high school, he attended the University of Iowa where he wrote for the student literary

He begins imagining how his father would be if here were here today when he says he “would have been ninety-seven today,” but then he goes into how everyone is probably better off now that his father is gone by saying “if you had lived, and we would all be / miserable, you and your children, / driving from clinic to clinic” (Kooser 1, 2-4) While it may seem as though he is glad that his father is no longer living, he is actually explaining why it is better for everyone, including his father; if his father was still living, they would be running around from clinic to clinic, and would never be sure that he was not sick. Kooser is expressing how he is happy for his, his siblings’, and his father’s sakes, but how he still “miss[es] you[his father] every day” (Kooser 12). Then, we see the theme of rural landscapes, a very common reference in Kooser’s poetry: he illustrates “lilacs blooming in side yards all over Iowa” (20-21). These lilacs show how Kooser remembers his father in a happy, and even a beautiful way. His deep love for his father becomes even more obvious here. Although this poem may at first sight seem to be celebrating the death of a father, it becomes more evident that Kooser deeply loved his father, and only wishes the best for his