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User Rating: |
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8.8
/10
(140
votes)
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First, I would have her be beautiful,
and walking carefully up on my poetry
at the loneliest moment of an afternoon,
her hair still damp at the neck
from washing it. She should be wearing
a raincoat, an old one, dirty
from not having money enough for the cleaners.
She will take out her glasses, and there
in the bookstore, she will thumb
over my poems, then put the book back
up on its shelf. She will say to herself,
"For that kind of money, I can get
my raincoat cleaned." And she will.
Ted Kooser
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Read poems about / on: money, poetry, beautiful, hair, poem
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Comments about this poem (Selecting A Reader
by
Ted Kooser
) |
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comments about this poem (Selecting A Reader by
Ted Kooser
)
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Ben Colling
(3/4/2009 7:35:00 PM) |
I love this poem for its Kooser-style simplicity. His humility in saying that the majority of the public finds a clean coat more important than a book of poetry is satirically refreshing. His Puritan-esque view of Concrete>Abstract is quite interesting, and ironically entertaining. He's not arrogant; quite the opposite. He's poking fun at the vanity of the arts and even the ridiculousness of a bohemia ideal.
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Terri Kirby Erickson
(11/7/2007 12:11:00 PM) |
The lovely thing about this poem is how it flows from image to image...the beautiful woman...walking carefully...the loneliest moment of the afternoon...her hair still damp at the neck. You can see it clearly, feel it in a visceral way. Ted Kooser is a master at the art of story telling. And the thing is, if you are a writer...to inspire a woman to have her raincoat cleaned seems miracle enough. Every decision counts-every act, however small, changes the world.
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Old Poet
(1/18/2007 9:38:00 PM) |
Short, simple and definitely Ted Kooser.
Some comments show that they did NOT get this poem in spite of its simplicity.
He's poking fun of his own work AND vanity people!
Its a great poem!
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Anne Marie
(8/1/2006 1:18:00 PM) |
I can imagine Kooser lurking in the aisles of the bookstore, watching to see who is picking up his books. Of course he wants it to be a hot, sexy, yet intellectual girl who his poetry attracts. He is a MAN after all! And when she puts the book down, he makes into someone who is petty and obviously doesn't appreciat the art anyway. She's not quite as cute as she looked at first. It's about rejection. The dude got shot down!
Annie
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Joyce Chelmo
(4/18/2006 3:37:00 PM) |
*huge smile* Masterful write
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Reva Hill
(11/25/2005 3:56:00 PM) |
Oh—arrogance, I see. Deathless? How earnest, how arrogant such commentary strikes me.
I do like the poem and enjoy Mr. Kooser’s longing for a beautiful reader and his acceptance of the shabby raincoat. He is a man who takes his art so lightly as to let her leave without buying a book.
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Oliver Brookshore
(9/9/2005 3:28:00 AM) |
Great poem! ! I absloutly love it! so simple and such a joy to read.
Its one of my favourite
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Jessica Brick
(7/13/2005 10:42:00 AM) |
Oh, to have Billy Collins back as the Poet Laureate... this poem, especially, reminds me of a better one by Collins- Marginalia, one of the best lines of which is, 'Pardon the egg salad stains, but I'm in love.' Kooser definitely borders into the arrogant in not a few of his poems, something about his tone. He seem to feel that as a poet, the world waits on him. I agree with a comment made earlier by Lamont- if anything Kooser, instead of inspiring me, heartens me in believing that I too perhaps am capable of winning a prize for my poetry one day. (Although I myself have shared the wish that a reader of my poetry would be beautiful...)
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Ted Kooser
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