Kindest Regards. Ted Kooser

n>

      Note to the Reader

      Copper Canyon Press encourages you to calibrate your settings by using the line of characters below, which optimizes the line length and character size:

      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque euismod magna ac diam dignissim condimentum.

      Please take the time to adjust the size of the text on your viewer so that the line of characters above appears on one line, if possible.

      When this text appears on one line on your device, the resulting settings will most accurately reproduce the layout of the text on the page and the line length intended by the author. Viewing the title at a higher than optimal text size or on a device too small to accommodate the lines in the text will cause the reading experience to be altered considerably; single lines of some poems will be displayed as multiple lines of text. If this occurs, the turn of the line will be marked with a shallow indent.

      Thank you. We hope you enjoy these poems.

       This e-book edition was created through a special grant provided by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Copper Canyon Press would like to thank Constellation Digital Services for their partnership in making this e-book possible.

       To the memory of my parents, Ted and Vera

      It is out of the dailiness of life that one is driven into

      the deepest recesses of the self.

      Stanley Kunitz

      Contents

        Title Page

        Note to the Reader

        Dedication

       from Sure Signs

       1980

      1  Selecting a Reader

      2  First Snow

      3  An Old Photograph

      4  The Constellation Orion

      5  The Salesman

      6  Old Soldiers’ Home

      7  Fort Robinson

      8  How to Foretell a Change in the Weather

      9  Snow Fence

      10  In an Old Apple Orchard

      11  After the Funeral: Cleaning Out the Medicine Cabinet

      12  Carrie

      13  For a Friend

      14  Five P.M.

      15  Abandoned Farmhouse

      16  At the Bait Stand

      17  The Widow Lester

      18  The Red Wing Church

       from One World at a Time

       1985

      1  Flying at Night

      2  In the Basement of the Goodwill Store

      3  In January, 1962

      4  Father

      5  The Fan in the Window

      6  Daddy Longlegs

      7  Goodbye

      8  Laundry

      9  Ladder

      10  Walking at Noon near the Burlington Depot in Lincoln, Nebraska

      11  At Nightfall

      12  Cleaning a Bass

      13  A Letter

      14  The Voyager 2 Satellite

      15  As the President Spoke

      16  The Urine Specimen

      17  Porch Swing in September

       from The Blizzard Voices