Ted Kooser (Climate Change, Eco-activism, Whisperings of Social Justice)

Ted Kooser (Theodore J. Kooser) was born in Ames, Iowa, on April 25, 1939. He is one of the most influential voices in modern poetry. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2005. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poets laureate selected from the Great Plains, was part of the Midwest Poetry Renaissance in the 1960s and 1970s, and is known for his conversational style of poetry.

 

I Turned My Back

I turned my back for only a moment
and when I looked again the tide of the prairie
was draining away. Houses were emerging
out of the green, then sidewalks and streets.
Whole cities had been under the grass all along
and none of us knew.  Sage hen, hawk, badger
and antelope followed the tide's retreat,
leaving cat, dog and rabbit, and small children
were playing in the last puddles of green.

---

Setu, July 2023 :: Climate Change, Eco-activism, Whisperings of Social Justice