Description: Four decades of poetry―and a generous selection of new work―make up this extraordinary collection by Pulitzer Prize winner Ted Kooser. Firmly rooted in the landscapes of the Midwest, Kooser's poetry succeeds in finding the emotional resonances within the ordinary. Kooser's language of quiet intensity trains itself on the intricacies of human relationships, as well as the animals and objects that make up our days. As Poetry magazine said of his work, "Kooser documents the dignities, habits, and small griefs of daily life, our hunger for connection, our struggle to find balance."
Review Quotes: "Kooser's greatest assets have long been his generous eye and his way with understatement, two qualities abundantly present in this book of new and selected poems."-The New York Times
"Routine, which orders the lives of Kooser and his country neighbors, has a monastic intensity in his poems, as the repetition of domestic ritual is embraced, not merely endured."- The Christian Science Monitor "[Kooser] will one day rank alongside Edgar Lee Masters, Robert Frost, and William Carlos Williams."- The Star Tribune "There is a sense of quiet amazement at the core of all Kooser's work."- The Washington Post "Kooser's ability to discover the smallest detail and render it remarkable is a rare gift."-The Bloomsbury Review "[Kooser] brushes poems over ordinary objects, revealing metaphysical themes that 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."- The Philadelphia Inquirer "Kooser documents the dignities, habits, and small griefs of daily life, our hunger for connection, our struggle to find balance in natural and unnaturally human worlds."- Poetry