A Poem for a Thursday #169

Ted Kooser was named the U.S. poet laureate in 2004. His poems contain themes of love, family, and time, and frequently take place in a Midwest setting. Kooser says of his poetry, “I write for other people with the hope that I can help them see the wonderful things within their everyday experiences. In short, I want to show people how interesting the ordinary world can be if you pay attention.” Kooser helped found “American Life in Poetry” which offers a free weekly poem to newspapers across the United States. The goal of the program is to increase the visibility of poetry and make it more accessible.

She was all in black but for a yellow tail
that trailed from her cap, and bright blue gloves
that she held out wide, the feathery fingers spread,
as surely she stepped, click-clack, onto the frozen 
top of the world. And there, with a clatter of blades,
she began to braid a loose path that broadened
into a meadow of curls. Across the ice she swooped
and then turned back and, halfway, bent her legs
and leapt into the air the way a crane leaps, blue gloves
lifing her lightly, and turned a snappy half-turn
there in the wind before coming down, arms wide,
skating backward right out of that moment, smiling back
at the woman she'd been just an instant before.

Skater 
Ted Kooser

Brona shared a poem today.