Customer Reviews

Weather Central (Pitt Poetry Series)

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After reading Weather Central it is easy to understand why Ted Kooser is sometimes called the poet laureate of Nebraska. He writes with eloquence of barn owls, potatoes, spider eggs, sparklers, baseball and the prairie so that they matter to the reader wherever they might live. These poems do not rely on obscure references, contorted images, or pretension. They are powerful because we see that our own lives are poems that are being created each day. With 20/20 vision Kooser puts them on the page for us.

Although I didn't think this collection was quite as good as Delights & Shadows or his Selected Poems, Weather Central is a fine collection of poems. I recommend "Four Secretaries", "In Passing", "A Statue of the Unknown Soldier", and "Weather Central." The poems seem to be a bit longer than what he usually writes, though the rest of Kooser's characteristics are here. He still is plainspoken. He is still a simple poet. He's still a poet everyone can love.

Ted Kooser's poetry is lovely. "Sparklers" on page 79 is a beautifully spare poem that really spoke to me.