$32.49
Author: Kooser Ted
Number Of Pages: 96
Details: Product Description
“Poems dipped out of the air” describes the manner in which Ted Kooser composed the poems in Cotton Candy, the result of his daily routine of getting up long before dawn, sitting with coffee, pen, and notebook, and writing whatever drifts into his mind. Whether those words and images are serious or just plain silly, Kooser tries not to censor himself. His objective is to catch whatever comes to him, to snatch it out of the air in words, rhythms, and cadences, the way a cotton candy vendor dips an airy puff out of a cloud of spun sugar and hands it to his customer. Poems written in fun and now shared with the reader, Kooser’s playful and magical confections charm and delight.
Review
“There is much to be admired in Kooser’s improvisational approach to composition.”—Publishers Weekly
“That Kooser often sees things we do not would be delight enough, but more amazing is exactly what he sees. Nothing escapes him. Everything is illuminated.”—Library Journal
“There is a sense of quiet amazement at the core of all Kooser’s work.”—Washington Post
“[Kooser] brushes poems over ordinary objects, revealing metaphysical themes the way an investigator dusts for fingerprints. His language is so controlled and convincing that one can’t help but feel significant truths behind his lines.”—Philadelphia Inquirer
“Kooser’s ability to discover the smallest detail and render it remarkable is a rare gift.”—Bloomsbury Review
“Kooser is straightforward, possesses an American essence, is humble, gritty, ironic, and has a gift for detail and deceptive simplicity.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
About the Author
Ted Kooser, U.S. poet laureate (2004–6) and winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, is an emeritus presidential professor of English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is the author of dozens of books, including Kindest Regards: New and Selected Poems, The Wheeling Year: A Poet’s Field Book (Nebraska, 2014), and Delights and Shadows.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Cotton Candy
The vendor, wearing a white cotton apron,
would select one paper cone from a big bouquet
of identical cones kept ready in a bucket
at hand, and, with a grand flourish, dip it
and sweep it deep in the whirling pink strands
of warm sugar, and twirl it, this with the fingers
of just one of his hands, his other hand held
out of sight, its back pressed to a bow in the ties
of his apron, and while we looked on with
delight, he would assemble a cloud, one cloud
for each of us standing in line with our quarters,
one quarter per puff of sticky, spun sweetness,
something to carry away up the midway, held
by its cone, as if we were pinching the strings
of small pink balloons that were carrying us.
Release Date: 01-09-2022
Package Dimensions: 9x218x138
