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Poems from Sure Signs by Ted Kooscr. Reprinted
by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Nebraska
Posts
Ted Kooser
t'ark DavlsDs'.ty Nebrzskan
Spring Flowing
West 0 Omaha the freshly plowed fields
steam in the night like lakes
Vie smell of the earth floods over the roads.
The field mice are moving their nests
to the higher ground offence rows,
the old among them crying out to the owls
to take them all The paths in the grass
are loud with the squeak of their carts.
They keep their lanterns covered.
Ted Kooser surely is one of Nebraska's most prom
inent poets.
In addition to having several books published, he
has had poems featured in The New Yorker, The
American Poetry Review, and Prairie Schooner,
among others. His poems also have been included in
high school and college textbooks. He recently was
awarded a writing grant from the National Endow
ment for the Arts.
Kooser has written poetry since he was a child,
but didn't get serious about it until he was 19 or 20.
One of his reasons for getting involved with poetry
was his need to feel set apart and special, something
he believes is important. Kooser said if he lived in a
tribal situation and the tribe was gathered around
the fire, he would be the one set slightly apart from
the others, standing at the edge of the forest.
He had another reason for becoming a poet:
women. He hadn't felt physically impressive as a
teenager and wanted to be able to reach women. He
said he believed he could do this by being able to
discuss things that football players couldn't.
When he writes, he usually starts out with a line or
a word as opposed to an idea. He said ideas usually
don't turn into poems.
- Kooser said he dislikes the "ingrown toenail" type
of poem.-He described an ingrown toenail poem as
short and well-written, yet insignificant and not
moving.
He said writing classes are useful to beginners
only up to a point. Beyond that, the only way to learn
writing is to write.
Kooser said poets should be isolated. He said he
rarely has enough' time alone to write.
Smurfs, Joan Rivers give U.S. bowl name
Announcer: "Too many cooks are
gonna spoil the stew,
Too many cooks are gonna spoil the
stew,
Too many cooks are gonna spoil the
stew,
But there ain't nobody cooking, here
but me and you.
Tom Madder
Glenn Stuva
Glenn: Hi America. Tom and I are
here today to discuss a subject that is
near and dear to our hearts. That sub
ject is this great country in which we
live. America. The old VS. of A.
- Tom: More specifically, things we
don't like in this otherwise great coun
try of ours. Do you want to go first?
Glenn: Sure, why not? I tell you Tom,
I love this great country of ours, but
there are some things about it that
really tick me off. For starters I can't
stand Burger King commercials.
Tom: Yes. Every time one of those
comes on I want to scream. I even eat
there occasionally, and I can't stand
them. They try to be so clever, and
come across being so irritatingly stupid.
Glenn: I think the advertising firm
that came up with Burger King's pres
ent advertising strategy ought to be
banned from ever working again.
Tom: Much more clever in this genre
are Wendy's "Where's the beef?" ads, or
even McDonald's inoffensive high road
middle of the road ads.
Glenn: Another thing that gets my
goat is the explosion of different brands
of toothpaste. Whatever happened to
the good old days when people either
brushed their teeth with water or
didn't brush them at all?
Tom: Toothpaste ads don't bother
me as much as those stupid Cabbage
Patch dolls. How little imagination does
the American public have left? What
ever happened to teddy bears?
Glenn: Damn right. And what about
Smurfs? I hate Smurfs. Iwant to cut
their stuffing out.
Tom: Smurfs don't bother me as
much as Garfield (the cat). The car
toon equivalent to Burger King ads,
this is another item that attempts cle
verness but fails miserably. The most
irritating part is that a lot of people
think he's funny, just like Joan Rivers.
Did you know they're selling large
stuffed Garfields for $200? Two hund
red dollars! So some weak-willed per
son can set it along side their brat's
Cabbage Patch doll.
Glenn: Joan Rivers isn't funny. She's
merely crude and obnoxious. But per
haps the single thing I hate most in
America is John Cougar. I guess it's
John Cougar "Mellencamp," now. John
Cougar knows nothing. "Little pink
houses?" I don't know about you, but I
never lived in a pink house. I just wish
he'd stop singing and go take a bath.
Tom: Or get a haircut. The man is
really "LC," to borrow a phrase.
Glenn: And of course there are cer
tain second district congressmen that
should be retired permanently, but I
can't mention any names because we're
not supposed to get political
Tom: You mean Hal Daub?
Glenn: Yeah, The Weasel.
Tom: Two-faced (censored).
Glenn: Well Torn, we seem to be run
ning out of time. Let's mention a few
things we like about America. Pizza for
instance.
Tom: Volkswagens.
Glenn: The Beatles, hamburgers, and
cable televison.
Tom: Big Gulps, drive-in movies, Fri
day nights with Mary Jane.
Glenn: Certain film critics and of
course that All-American institution:
freedom of the press.
Tom: I think I'm going to start to cry.
Glenn: Let's hear it for America folks.
It's your country. It's our country. It's
everybody's country, even it it's not
their country.