Ted Kooser

Photo credit: Kathleen Rutledge

We are honored to present a very special poetrypoetry feature in which Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate of the United States, reads from his published works of the last 30+ years and is interviewed by Charlie about his poetics and influences. Hailing from Garland, Nebraska, near Lincoln, Mr. Kooser is the first Poet Laureate from a Great Plains state.

The interview took place in Chicago, Illinois on November 17, 2004, the morning after Mr. Kooser gave the 50^th Annual Poetry Day Reading sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, publishers of Poetry magazine. As part of the interview Mr. Kooser also announced a new poetry initiative, jointly sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the Library of Congress, designed to get poetry into newspapers across the United States. Newspapers participating in the project will receive, without cost, a regular column, "American Life in Poetry," written by Mr. Kooser. The total length of the interview is approximately 50 minutes.

By the way, here at poetrypoetry.com we were appreciative of Ted Kooser's poetry long before his Laureate appointment. After you enjoy the interview/reading you can learn more about him and hear a few more of his poems by going to the "Charlie Says" of September 2000 in the poetrypoetry Vault.

Stream the entire interview in monoaural (best for dialup connections) or...
Stream the interview in stereo (if you have broadband.)
 
Technical Note: The monoaural selections are encoded in 24Kbps mp3 format and should offer skip-free playback on a standard dial-up connection. The stereo selections are encoded in the new ogg vorbis format (at 64Kbps VBR) and may require an upgrade to your mp3 player. The latest version of Winamp is a good, and free, choice for updating your audio capabilities.

Return to the vault.