This is the sibling assignment I gave this week. "Think of a poet that has inspired your writing, your thinking, and/or your view of the world. Use your words, the poet’s words, and images to illustrate how this poet has influenced your life." Raymond Pert's is
here, Silver Valley Girl's will be
here.
I focus on significant events when writing memoir. It may be a room from childhood, a garden at Grandma’s house, or a Thanksgiving dinner. Ted Kooser has changed the way I write about these memories. His poetry takes moments of everyday life and creates lyrical images using topics we can all relate to: a dying father, a cancer patient, or a farmer that lost his land.
He chooses his words carefully so we are at the farmhouse, his grandmother’s kitchen, or out in a rainy morning. His words have inspired me to observe quiet moments in a poetic way. In his book
The Poetry Home Repair Manual he states, “While you sit quietly scribbling into your notebook, memories and associations rise like bubbles out of the thick mud of your mind. Interesting words pop up, colorful images.” Here are some examples his words:
"It’s a kitchen. Its curtains fill
with a morning light so bright
you can’t see beyond its windows
into the afternoon. A kitchen
falling through time with its things”
A Room in the Past
”She is being helped toward the open door
that leads to the examining rooms
by two young women I take to be her sisters.
Each bends to the weight of an arm
and steps with the straight, tough bearing
of courage.”
At the Cancer Clinic
After Kooser was chosen the United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 – 2006 he began American Life in Poetry. This weekly newspaper column has allowed me to read other contemporary poets, has provided a collection to use in teaching and it has introduced readers in America a poem each week.
I began to write memoir so I could begin to understand the connections in my life and the family around me. Ted Kooser writes about those delicate connections. In announcing his appointment as Poet Laureate, Librarian of Congress James Billington said, "Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways." Ted Kooser helped me go back to my small town and make sense of the images, words, and stories. For that I have been inspired and grateful.
There are many poems of his that I love. The one I am sharing in this assignment is
The Spiral Notebook from
Delights and Shadows which won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2005.
A Spiral NotebookThe bright wire rolls like a porpoise
in and out of the calm blue sea
of the cover, or perhaps like a sleeper
twisting in and out of his dreams,
for it could hold a record of dreams
if you wanted to buy it for that,
though it seems to be meant for
more serious work, with its
college-ruled lines and its cover
that states in emphatic white letters,
5 SUBJECT NOTEBOOK. It seems
a part of growing old is no longer
to have five subjects, each
demanding an equal share of attention,
set apart by brown cardboard dividers,
but instead to stand in a drugstore
and hang on to one subject
a little too long, like this notebook
you weigh in your hands, passing
your fingers over its surfaces
as if it were some kind of wonder.
Ted Kooser
"Remember that the greatest pleasures of writing are to be found in the process itself. Enjoy paying attention to the world, relish the quiet hours at your desk, delight in the headiness of writing well and the pleasure of having done something as well as you can." Ted KooserI am going to take his advice and focus on one subject at a time and do it as well as I can. You can learn more about Ted Kooser
here. You can learn more about American Life in Poetry
here.
When JEJ enclosed the patio last spring he had one last project to do to make the job complete. He had gotten an old Franklin stove free a few years ago and we didn't have a place for it. We do love wood heat. We heat with wood in the house and also have a fireplace outside. Who couldn't resist another stove, especially if it was free? He got the stove set up so we could seek comfort by the fire this afternoon. As we relaxed, listened to the rain, and sat and read. Our kitten Kit decided he wanted to experience this comfort by the fire stuff. He cuddled up with Annie near the stove and decided it was the best seat in the house! 
The lilies were a huge success this year. I welcomed them during a hot, dry time in early August when other plants were drying up.
The raised beds produced lovely cut flowers, lots and lots of zucchini, hardy sunflowers, and tomatoes with a taste I wish I could hold on to through winter.
I always love my geraniums. I felt like the variety of colors this year created bright spots around the gardens. Fortunately they have been moved to the greenhouse where they can winter over and be used for propagating more plants.
The roses started out slow in the spring, but made up for it during the blooming season. How I will also miss walking through the garden in early morning smelling the roses. 
Growing up the grocery store always let us know when Halloween was coming.
Now the hills are covered with new growth since the smelter has closed. I loved the mix of foliage and the blend of fall colors from this view. 
The mix of plants, flowers, and trees in my Mom's backyard is another example of autumn brilliance. I love to be reminded of how beautiful autumn can be. Happy Saturday.
I don't think I have been back to my high school homecoming for at least twenty-five years. A perfect time to return to Teeter's Field in Kellogg, Idaho for the annual event is when your niece is running for homecoming queen. The football game was between the Kellogg Wildcats and the St. Maries Lumberjacks. 
Before the game the family got warmed up with Mom's homemade chili . We bundled up and headed to the game, thankful the rain had subsided. We were relieved there is now grass turf. Back in the day it would have been a messy mud fest . 
