Sure Signs: New and Selected Poems

by Ted Kooser

Book Overview

The publication of Ted Kooser's Sure Signs: New and Selected Poems is a literary event of major importance. Long admired and praised by other poets, Kooser is also accessible to the reader not familiar with contemporary poetry.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822953137
• ISBN13: 9780822953135
• Release Date: June 1980
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Symbols and Landscapes in Ted Kooser's Sure Signs

From the vacant rooms in "An Empty Place" (p. 44) and "North of Alliance" (p. 51) to the forsaken pastures of "Abandoned Farmhouse" (p. 64), the cold Midwestern landscape of Ted Kooser's Sure Signs seems, at times, the picture of neglect. While the `empty house' in "North of Alliance" has seemingly "nothing / to tell us the style of people / who lived here," the "Abandoned Farmhouse" speaks sorrowful volumes of its former inhabitants. In the narratives of these poems characters are known only by their absence, defined only by the traces they leave behind. But amidst the gloom of abandoned spaces and anxieties about silence, Kooser shows the reader the permanency of hope and of belief. The dismantled church in "The Red Wing Church" (p. 81)--parts from which now decorate gardens, porches and the mayor's house--is undeniably "still a church." And the ringing church bell in "Sunday Morning" (p. 93) blares out deafeningly at the end of the collection as it "tolls its thankfulness." Churches, in this collection, become a symbol not so much of the theology that built them, but of the congregations they shelter from an indifferent natural world. Though the landscape in this collection is scarred by the ravages of time, and many of its inhabitants have departed, Kooser shows the reader sure signs of the lives they lived and of the things in which they believed. It is a collection that bares reflection for its strange mix of nostalgia and contemplation of the deepest problems of modern life. Sure Signs is Kooser's answer to what turn-of-the-century German sociologist George Simmel described as "the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life." Though personal histories in this collection are subverted by a common history that connects person to person and generation to generation, it remains an exploration of tragedies so heart-rending they could only occur on a personal level.

the reason I like poetry

I'm 32 and got into poetry late in life, probably because I didn't know what the heck a poem was or how, assuming the poem was even intelligible, it could change your life. But all that changed when I discovered Sure Signs. What I like about Mr. Kooser's poems is that I can actually understand them. I was suprised to read a poet this readable, a poet who helped me to see the small, beautiful things in life, and, perhaps most of all, drove me to the library where I checked out more volumes of poetry. What amazed me is how Mr. Kooser can put the profound into very simple words. I can say that after reading these poems, and others like them, I am a better human being than I was before I started reading poetry. This wouldn't be the case if I hadn't found a poet I could finally understand. I'll never read "academic" poetry again. Also recommended: How to Lose Your Faith in Divinity School

Sure Signs: New and Selected Poems

Ted Kooser is able to take such everyday situations and discribe them in a way that make you melt. Beautiful!

great collection

Ted Kooser is the poet of the common man. He is known as a regionalist, though his poems speak to people from all over the country. And his selected poems show you exactly the skill of this poet. Kooser is the master of the short poem and of the simple poem. He is a pleasure to read. This collection contains such fine poems such as "Selecting a Reader", "Spring Plowing", "A Summer Night", "Carrie", "A Hairnet with Stars" and "Abandoned Farmhouses" (which might be his best poem). I highly recommend this collection.