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Splitting an Order
One of the "Big Indie Books of Fall 2014"�Publishers Weekly
Paterson Poetry Prize, 2015
"Ted Kooser must be the most accessible and enjoyable major poet in America. His lines are so clear and simple."—Michael Dirda,The Washington Post
“Readers [of Splitting an Order] will find ‘characters� both strange and wonderful, animal or human. There is a sense that time is passing quickly and that everything worthy must be captured and savored, from an old couple lovingly sharing a sandwich to another sowing seed potatoes to a tribute to an old dog who waits as age and winter approach� Master of the single-metaphor poem, Kooser offers images that evolve, fluid and unforced.”�Library Journal, starred review
"Wisdom, compassion, and dignity continue to mark the poetry of Ted Kooser...Splitting an Order [is] a quiet collection that honors small victories and gives reasons to be hopeful."—Elizabeth Lund, The Christian Science Monitor
"Kooser's ability to discover the smallest detail and render it remarkable is a rare gift."�Bloomsbury Review
Pulitzer Prize winner and best selling poet Ted Kooser calls attention to the intimacies of life through commonplace objects and occurrences: an elderly couple sharing a sandwich is a study in transcendent love, while a tattered packet of spinach seeds calls forth innate human potential. This long-awaited collection from the former U.S. Poet Laureate—ten years in the making—is rich with quiet and profound magnificence.
From "Splitting an Order":
I like to watch an old man cutting a sandwich in half
� and then to see him lift half
onto the extra plate that he asked the server to bring,
and then to wait, offering the plate to his wife
while she slowly unrolls her napkin and places her spoon,
her knife and her fork in their proper places,
then smoothes the starched white napkin over her knees
and meets his eyes and holds out both old hands to him.
Ted Kooser is the author of numerous books of poetry and prose, including Delights and Shadows (Copper Canyon Press), which won the Pulitzer Prize. A former US Poet Laureate, Kooser serves as editor for "American Life in Poetry," a nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column.
Paterson Poetry Prize, 2015
"Ted Kooser must be the most accessible and enjoyable major poet in America. His lines are so clear and simple."—Michael Dirda,The Washington Post
“Readers [of Splitting an Order] will find ‘characters� both strange and wonderful, animal or human. There is a sense that time is passing quickly and that everything worthy must be captured and savored, from an old couple lovingly sharing a sandwich to another sowing seed potatoes to a tribute to an old dog who waits as age and winter approach� Master of the single-metaphor poem, Kooser offers images that evolve, fluid and unforced.”�Library Journal, starred review
"Wisdom, compassion, and dignity continue to mark the poetry of Ted Kooser...Splitting an Order [is] a quiet collection that honors small victories and gives reasons to be hopeful."—Elizabeth Lund, The Christian Science Monitor
"Kooser's ability to discover the smallest detail and render it remarkable is a rare gift."�Bloomsbury Review
Pulitzer Prize winner and best selling poet Ted Kooser calls attention to the intimacies of life through commonplace objects and occurrences: an elderly couple sharing a sandwich is a study in transcendent love, while a tattered packet of spinach seeds calls forth innate human potential. This long-awaited collection from the former U.S. Poet Laureate—ten years in the making—is rich with quiet and profound magnificence.
From "Splitting an Order":
I like to watch an old man cutting a sandwich in half
� and then to see him lift half
onto the extra plate that he asked the server to bring,
and then to wait, offering the plate to his wife
while she slowly unrolls her napkin and places her spoon,
her knife and her fork in their proper places,
then smoothes the starched white napkin over her knees
and meets his eyes and holds out both old hands to him.
Ted Kooser is the author of numerous books of poetry and prose, including Delights and Shadows (Copper Canyon Press), which won the Pulitzer Prize. A former US Poet Laureate, Kooser serves as editor for "American Life in Poetry," a nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column.
87 pages, Hardcover
First published October 14, 2014
24 people are currently reading
357 people want to read
About the author
Ted Kooser
89books292followersTed Kooser lives in rural Nebraska with his wife, Kathleen, and three dogs. He is one of America's most noted poets, having served two terms as U. S. Poet Laureate and, during the second term, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection, Delights & Shadows. He is a retired life insurance executive who now teaches part-time at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The school board in Lincoln, Nebraska, recently opened Ted Kooser Elementary School, which Ted says is his greatest honor, among many awards and distinctions. He has published twelve collections of poetry and three nonfiction books. Two of the latter are books on writing, The Poetry Home Repair Manual and Writing Brave and Free, and a memoir, Lights on a Ground of Darkness (all from University of Nebraska Press. Bag in the Wind from Candlewick is his first children's book, with which he is delighted. "It's wonderful," Ted said, "to be writing for young people. I am reinventing myself at age 70."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
January 30, 2015
I learned a valuable lesson from Kooser years ago in his poem about Depression glass. You don’t have to wait for epic subjects like death, floods, war, birth, or marriage to write good poems. The small moments and everyday objects surrounding us hold universal truths about who we are � “to see a world in a grain of sand� as William Blake said.
He takes the idea of turning everyday life into art even further by writing about things many of us find disgusting and not worthy of a second thought or look: “Dead Bat,� “Dead Fly,� and “Mouse in a Trap,� for example. Those poems are some of my favorites. From now on, I’ll see a dead fly as a “black sedan� that “lies on its top…its wheels in the air, its batteries drained.� In “Opossum,� he says, “I pushed aside some of my own fear/to admire you,� and he teaches us to do the same.
Kooser always chooses the right word, the clear image, the subject that will teach us something new about our world without being preachy or arrogant. Above all else, his poems are a pleasure to read.
Even the book title hooks Kooser fans who already treasure his sweet poem, “Splitting the Order.� The tenderness of an old man cutting a sandwich in half to share with his wife is an apt metaphor for the whole book: Kooser shares his observations with us. He and readers are partners in each poem. Of course, when we finish, we hold out our plates for more.
He takes the idea of turning everyday life into art even further by writing about things many of us find disgusting and not worthy of a second thought or look: “Dead Bat,� “Dead Fly,� and “Mouse in a Trap,� for example. Those poems are some of my favorites. From now on, I’ll see a dead fly as a “black sedan� that “lies on its top…its wheels in the air, its batteries drained.� In “Opossum,� he says, “I pushed aside some of my own fear/to admire you,� and he teaches us to do the same.
Kooser always chooses the right word, the clear image, the subject that will teach us something new about our world without being preachy or arrogant. Above all else, his poems are a pleasure to read.
Even the book title hooks Kooser fans who already treasure his sweet poem, “Splitting the Order.� The tenderness of an old man cutting a sandwich in half to share with his wife is an apt metaphor for the whole book: Kooser shares his observations with us. He and readers are partners in each poem. Of course, when we finish, we hold out our plates for more.
October 27, 2014
Let me say before I write anything more that I absolutely love Ted Kooser. Without ever having met him or having any communication with him whatsoever, I've taken to calling him "Uncle Ted" and returning to his poems whenever "life is too much like a pathless wood" as Yeats would have it.
Splitting an order is not Kooser's best book. Delights and Shadows might be or Local Wonders (I've got The Wheeling Year on my night table to begin tonight so stayed tuned for any possible ranking changes). But it's still a pleasure. Recently I've been quite disappointed with some of my favorite poets' new collections, Stephen Dunn and Louise Gluck in particular.
But Splitting an Order still shines with that wonderful Kooser simplicity and his amazing eye for detail. In one poem, "Changing Drivers," Kooser describes a couple pulled off to the side of the road to get a quick stretch and switch driving duties. Such a banality is the stuff Kooser makes holy: "they stoop and fit themselves inside/and the car's springs settle a little,/and each of them reaches a long way out/to pull the doors shut, her door first/then his, and they rock and shift,/fastening their belts, then both of them/lean forward almost simultaneously,/and peer into their side-view mirrors/to see whatever is bearing down from wherever they've been, and together/they ease out over the crunching gravel/onto the highway and move on."
As a poet, when I read Kooser, I'm always trying to figure out how he does what he does. But somewhere along the way I stop caring and simply become a fan again, a reader only reading a couple poems a day from this book so as to savor them.
Splitting an order is not Kooser's best book. Delights and Shadows might be or Local Wonders (I've got The Wheeling Year on my night table to begin tonight so stayed tuned for any possible ranking changes). But it's still a pleasure. Recently I've been quite disappointed with some of my favorite poets' new collections, Stephen Dunn and Louise Gluck in particular.
But Splitting an Order still shines with that wonderful Kooser simplicity and his amazing eye for detail. In one poem, "Changing Drivers," Kooser describes a couple pulled off to the side of the road to get a quick stretch and switch driving duties. Such a banality is the stuff Kooser makes holy: "they stoop and fit themselves inside/and the car's springs settle a little,/and each of them reaches a long way out/to pull the doors shut, her door first/then his, and they rock and shift,/fastening their belts, then both of them/lean forward almost simultaneously,/and peer into their side-view mirrors/to see whatever is bearing down from wherever they've been, and together/they ease out over the crunching gravel/onto the highway and move on."
As a poet, when I read Kooser, I'm always trying to figure out how he does what he does. But somewhere along the way I stop caring and simply become a fan again, a reader only reading a couple poems a day from this book so as to savor them.
December 24, 2020
This is full of the melancholy and bittersweet notion of a long life well lived but almost at the end now.
A Morning In Early Spring
First light, and under stars
our elm glides out of darkness
to settle on its nest of shadows,
spreading its feathers to shake out
the night. Above, a satellite-
one shining bead of mercury
bearing thousands of voices-
rolls toward the light in the east.
The Big Dipper, for months left
afloat in a bucket of stars,
has begun to leak. Each morning
it settles a little into the north.
A rabbit bounces over the yard
like a knot at the end of a rope
that the new day reels in, tugging
the night and coiling it away.
A fat robin bobs her head,
hemming a cloth for her table,
pulling the thread of a worm,
then neatly biting it off.
My wife, in an old velour robe,
steps off a fifty-yard length
of the dawn, out to the road
to get the newspaper, each step
with its own singular sound.
Each needle in the windbreak
bends to the breeze, the windmill
turns clockwise then ticks to a stop.
No other day like this one.
A crocus like a wooden match-
Ohio Blue Tip � flares in the shadows
that drip from the downspout.
This is a morning that falls between
weathers, a morning that hangs
dirty gray from the sky,
like a sheet from a bachelor’s bed,
hung out to dry but not dry yet,
the air not warm or cool,
and my wife within it, bearing the news
in both hands, like a tray.
Along the road to east and west,
on the dark side of fence posts,
thin fingers of shadowy snowdrifts
pluck and straighten the fringe
on a carpet of fields. Clouds float in
like ships flying the pennants of geese,
and the trees, like tuning forks,
begin to hum. Now a light rain
fingers the porch roof, trying
the same cold key over and over.
Spatters of raindrops cold as dimes,
and a torn gray curtain of cloud
floats out of a broken window
of sky. Icy patches of shadows
race over the hills. No other day
like this one, not ever again.
Now, for only a moment, sleet
sifts across the shingles, pale beads
threaded on filaments of rain,
and the wind dies. A threadbare
pillowcase of snow is shaken out
then draped across the morning,
too thin to cover anything for long.
None other like this.
All winter, the earth was sealed
by a lid of frost, like the layer
of paraffin over the apple jelly,
or the white disk of chicken fat
on soup left to cool, but now,
in cold tin sheds with dripping roofs,
old tractors warm their engines,
burning the feathery mouse nests
from red exhausts, rattling the jars
of cotter pins, shaking gaskets
on nails and stirring the dirty rags
of cobwebs. And young farmers
who have already this morning
put on the faces of ancestors
and have shoved the cold red fists
of grandfathers, fathers, and uncles
deep in their pockets, stand framed
in wreaths of diesel smoke,
looking out over the wet black fields
from doors that open into spring.
In the first light I bend to one knee.
I fill the old bowl of my hands
with wet leaves, and lift them
to my face, a rich broth of browns
and yellows, and breathe the vapor,
spiced with oils and, I suspect,
just a pinch of cumin. This is my life,
none other like this.
July 9, 2015
I wanted to love this poetry collection, but I ended up just liking it. I am big fan of Ted Kooser, and I look forward to reading the poems he selects for the American Life in Poetry column he publishes weekly. Overall, I found these poems to have very nice descriptions, but many of them lacked the ah-ha moments I look for in poetry. I think it's Billy Collins who said that good poetry begins in Kansas and ends in Oz. For this Kooser collection, most of the poems begin in Nebraska and stay there--not that there's anything bad about that.
Some gems:
Two
The Past
First Marriage
Some gems:
Two
The Past
First Marriage
December 3, 2014
Clearly and surely this is a mellow book by an older poet who is comfortable with his time and place yet has kept eyes and ears and heart open. Ted Kooser is our Nebraskan poet who served as Poet Laureate for a country and for poets who thrive on the simple and direct. Yet that is not saying that his poems are simple, for they manage to sense and convey the quiet meaning of things...our dream life "a weighty thing/ like life itself, in which you dip/ the leaky cup of your hands/ and drink." One of the most resonant poems in this echoing book is "Estate Sale" in which the poet browses the old estate giving out the images of objects in vivid detail yet suggesting the life behind the objects. A sample would be,
An empty coffee can
wrapped in aluminum foil.
In this poor urn, the peonies
rode to the graveyard,
covering their faces
with immaculate gloves.
There is a slow motion poignancy about this whole book. Though many of the poems read like wonderful openings to a novel that stop short, we are there with him in quiet intimacy.
The poet closes with a self-portrait poem of himself as "A Person of Limited Palette" accepting himself and his life, advising "If you should come looking/ for me, you'll find me here, in Nebraska,/ thirty miles south of the broad Platte River,/ under the flyway of dreams."
And you will find him in this fine book knowing that we are fortunate to have him with us.
An empty coffee can
wrapped in aluminum foil.
In this poor urn, the peonies
rode to the graveyard,
covering their faces
with immaculate gloves.
There is a slow motion poignancy about this whole book. Though many of the poems read like wonderful openings to a novel that stop short, we are there with him in quiet intimacy.
The poet closes with a self-portrait poem of himself as "A Person of Limited Palette" accepting himself and his life, advising "If you should come looking/ for me, you'll find me here, in Nebraska,/ thirty miles south of the broad Platte River,/ under the flyway of dreams."
And you will find him in this fine book knowing that we are fortunate to have him with us.
August 23, 2015
This was a very quick read. It walks you through a few precious experiences, in simple. straight-to-the-point lovely poems.
It was good to read in the breaks between a weekend with friends.
It does deal with seeing and moments, part of my particular interests in life, being in the present, observing, thinking metaphorically as a way of life.
Many types of art serve different purposes. While not overly sentimental, this book is also not pushing the bounds of poetry or conversing in the language of some of the more esoteric poets. Whether or not it has value to you, is a matter of judgement on your part, I suppose.
As for me, I thought it pleasant. Not mind-blowing, but pleasant. Which is okay for sunny afternoons in the summer, no?
It was good to read in the breaks between a weekend with friends.
It does deal with seeing and moments, part of my particular interests in life, being in the present, observing, thinking metaphorically as a way of life.
Many types of art serve different purposes. While not overly sentimental, this book is also not pushing the bounds of poetry or conversing in the language of some of the more esoteric poets. Whether or not it has value to you, is a matter of judgement on your part, I suppose.
As for me, I thought it pleasant. Not mind-blowing, but pleasant. Which is okay for sunny afternoons in the summer, no?
October 12, 2015
My favorite poets are those that make us say “oh yes, I understand that, because I’ve felt that way too, or I’ve seen the same thing but haven’t known how to find the words for it.� Ted Kooser does that with poems about ordinary life that are both beautifully simple and deeply profound. Like Mary Oliver, he’s especially good at paying close attention to what can so easily be ignored otherwise in order to capture the essence of what our lives have to tell us.
The titles of the poems in this collection are examples of Kooser’s ability to use what we’re likely to see or experience on any given day to reflect something universal about the relationships we have with others and the significance of what goes on in our lives from one day to the next: Near a Mall; Changing Drivers; In a Gift Shop; Tree Removal; Estate Sale; At a Kitchen Table; Painting a Barn. Even sleep apnea as well as what goes on in a fast food restaurant at noon end up telling us something important about everyday life. His poems about people capture the sometimes complicated as well as tender business of being human: Swinging from Parents; the Roller Blader; Two Men on an Errand; and the gentle poem that is also the title of this volume: Splitting an Order.
Those who believe that unless you have to work hard to unravel a poem’s meaning because of the poet’s deliberate use of complicated metaphors and confusing language will probably find Kooser’s poetry to be too “accessible.� However I’ve never understood why that should be a criticism. It seems to me that poetry is meant to communicate something about being human that touches us and resonates with us. Why we should have to spend hours trying to figure it out is hard for me to understand especially when there are poets like Ted Kooser who do such a beautiful job of using language clearly and deliberately to call our attention to something we wouldn’t have otherwise paid attention to. It could explain why his poetry won him the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and got him named our National Poet Laureate from 2004-2006.
The titles of the poems in this collection are examples of Kooser’s ability to use what we’re likely to see or experience on any given day to reflect something universal about the relationships we have with others and the significance of what goes on in our lives from one day to the next: Near a Mall; Changing Drivers; In a Gift Shop; Tree Removal; Estate Sale; At a Kitchen Table; Painting a Barn. Even sleep apnea as well as what goes on in a fast food restaurant at noon end up telling us something important about everyday life. His poems about people capture the sometimes complicated as well as tender business of being human: Swinging from Parents; the Roller Blader; Two Men on an Errand; and the gentle poem that is also the title of this volume: Splitting an Order.
Those who believe that unless you have to work hard to unravel a poem’s meaning because of the poet’s deliberate use of complicated metaphors and confusing language will probably find Kooser’s poetry to be too “accessible.� However I’ve never understood why that should be a criticism. It seems to me that poetry is meant to communicate something about being human that touches us and resonates with us. Why we should have to spend hours trying to figure it out is hard for me to understand especially when there are poets like Ted Kooser who do such a beautiful job of using language clearly and deliberately to call our attention to something we wouldn’t have otherwise paid attention to. It could explain why his poetry won him the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and got him named our National Poet Laureate from 2004-2006.
February 16, 2022
He's just so great, so plain-speaking, so moving. He's become one of my go-to poets.
October 23, 2017
Ted Kooser is the big eye behind the magnifying glass,
when it comes to the small and quiet things in life.
And I love what that eye records while it's at work.
He's worth the time. Several poems should not be missed.
So, what can I do but give it a thumbs up!
And, here it is...
when it comes to the small and quiet things in life.
And I love what that eye records while it's at work.
He's worth the time. Several poems should not be missed.
So, what can I do but give it a thumbs up!
And, here it is...
August 6, 2019
It's unfair to measure everything by Delights and Shadows. I love this man.
August 5, 2023
Every poem I read by Ted Kooser hits my heart with a feeling. He is one of the most outstanding poets, the way he weaves just the right words together, so that I can feel the humanity inside each creation.
April 8, 2015
Kooser employs simple language to make the most uncannily astute observations. Example: From “Estate Sale�
A 25-amp glass fuse.
Under the clear ice of its surface
It is easy to see the silver ribbon
Of a motionless fish,
Its body aligned with the current.
Or
Lantern
In the predawn cold and darkness,
It was only a pinch of light,
Not more than a cup of warmth,
As a farmer carried it over the snow
To the barn where his dozen cows
Stood stomping, heavy with milk
In the milky cloud of their lowing.
But that was many years ago,
And his lantern has rusted,
Its last fumes lost on the seasons
Like the breath of those cows.
But at the last he thought to leave
A fresh ribbon of wick coiled up
In the chimney in case it was ever
Needed again, a dollar’s worth
Of preparation. And, getting prepared
For a later winter, a pregnant mouse
Was able to squeeze through a vent
And unravel that wick and make
A cottony nest with dusty,
Panoramic windows and there to raise
Her bald and mewling, pissy brood,
And then for them to disappear,
The way we all, one day, move on,
Leaving a little sharp whiff
Of ourselves in the dirty bedding.
A poet who truly celebrates life.
A 25-amp glass fuse.
Under the clear ice of its surface
It is easy to see the silver ribbon
Of a motionless fish,
Its body aligned with the current.
Or
Lantern
In the predawn cold and darkness,
It was only a pinch of light,
Not more than a cup of warmth,
As a farmer carried it over the snow
To the barn where his dozen cows
Stood stomping, heavy with milk
In the milky cloud of their lowing.
But that was many years ago,
And his lantern has rusted,
Its last fumes lost on the seasons
Like the breath of those cows.
But at the last he thought to leave
A fresh ribbon of wick coiled up
In the chimney in case it was ever
Needed again, a dollar’s worth
Of preparation. And, getting prepared
For a later winter, a pregnant mouse
Was able to squeeze through a vent
And unravel that wick and make
A cottony nest with dusty,
Panoramic windows and there to raise
Her bald and mewling, pissy brood,
And then for them to disappear,
The way we all, one day, move on,
Leaving a little sharp whiff
Of ourselves in the dirty bedding.
A poet who truly celebrates life.
November 28, 2014
Ted Kooser makes one see the ordinary details of everyday life through a fresh lens. In this collection of short poems and one essay he is able to use plain language (no dictionary needed) but forces the reader to examine various images, moods, seasons, behaviors. Each poem presents the world in a fresh, pleasing way.
May 4, 2015
As always, Kooser weaves magic out of the ordinary.
January 24, 2022
My favorite poet. He once again takes the mundane and brings out the extraordinary. There are no ordinary moments in Ted's world. Everything has a touch of the extraordinary.
July 22, 2022
Ted Kooser’s poetry is simple yet elegant. He reaches inside each and every one of us and touches our soul.
August 6, 2018
This book is without a doubt one of the finest in the volumes that I have read of Kooser's poetry. And this book is a worthwhile reminder of what it takes to make great poetry [1][, and that is a combination of skill with words and putting them together in a memorable and elegant fashion as well as the observation of reality that provides the raw material for so many of these wonderful poems. Fortunately, Kooser shows both observational skills to a high degree as well as the ability to put these skills to good use through his obvious linguistic talents. And to be sure, some of the poems in here are truly great poems, poems that deserve to be anthologized, poems that deserve to be read and read out loud and thought upon and remembered. It is deeply sad that so often the only audience for the work of poets is other poets, but in this case the audience is likely to appreciate this work for the achievement it is, and to fill in some the desire to emulate the work and to see if some of its greatness can rub off on our own poetic efforts.
The poems in this collection are divided into four unequal parts, the last one containing only a couple of poems. Since there appears to be no thematic divide, perhaps the poems are divided according to when they were written, in which case the last part would be the last couple poems that winded up the collection after some break and that made it a complete volume. Included in this book are some really insightful poems, including one touching poem about a woman whose husband is dying and whose grief is plainly visible but also impossible to share in its fullness. There is the titular poem about two old people splitting a sandwich order between them and showing each other love and affection in their dotage. But for me at least, the poem that is the most moving and most notable in this entire collection is "Small Rooms In Time," which tells a complex story of a set of rooms in a building where the author and his first wife and child spent some time, where later on there was a murder of a small town over some drugs that were supposed to be there (but were not there), and the fact that the building appears to be cursed and rundown in the aftermath of that murder, which leads the poet to a complex series of thoughts on the ravages of time that are moving and deeply insightful.
The poems in this book appear to be part of a three step process of sorts. The first is the observation of something striking, be it an aspect of creation or an interaction between people or a reflection on one's own life and history, or, in the case of "Small Rooms In Time," a story on the news. After that comes the way the poet reflects on these observations and incidents and records them on paper. But after that there is a part of the process that I think is often forgotten in these times, and that is the reading and reflecting and response to the poetry on the part of the reader of the poems. Perhaps the greatest shame that poems are so seldom read is that reading great poetry often inspires us to write poetry ourselves, but if the only audience for poems are those people who already write them themselves, then the inspiration is limited to those who are already poetic themselves, and so poets carry on beautiful and touching conversations with each other, but no one else bothers to listen and so no one else catches the inspiration themselves.
[1] See, for example:
The poems in this collection are divided into four unequal parts, the last one containing only a couple of poems. Since there appears to be no thematic divide, perhaps the poems are divided according to when they were written, in which case the last part would be the last couple poems that winded up the collection after some break and that made it a complete volume. Included in this book are some really insightful poems, including one touching poem about a woman whose husband is dying and whose grief is plainly visible but also impossible to share in its fullness. There is the titular poem about two old people splitting a sandwich order between them and showing each other love and affection in their dotage. But for me at least, the poem that is the most moving and most notable in this entire collection is "Small Rooms In Time," which tells a complex story of a set of rooms in a building where the author and his first wife and child spent some time, where later on there was a murder of a small town over some drugs that were supposed to be there (but were not there), and the fact that the building appears to be cursed and rundown in the aftermath of that murder, which leads the poet to a complex series of thoughts on the ravages of time that are moving and deeply insightful.
The poems in this book appear to be part of a three step process of sorts. The first is the observation of something striking, be it an aspect of creation or an interaction between people or a reflection on one's own life and history, or, in the case of "Small Rooms In Time," a story on the news. After that comes the way the poet reflects on these observations and incidents and records them on paper. But after that there is a part of the process that I think is often forgotten in these times, and that is the reading and reflecting and response to the poetry on the part of the reader of the poems. Perhaps the greatest shame that poems are so seldom read is that reading great poetry often inspires us to write poetry ourselves, but if the only audience for poems are those people who already write them themselves, then the inspiration is limited to those who are already poetic themselves, and so poets carry on beautiful and touching conversations with each other, but no one else bothers to listen and so no one else catches the inspiration themselves.
[1] See, for example:
February 5, 2019
My absolutely favorite Kooser poetry book ever (although I did adore the one where he faces his cancer diagnosis and treatment aftermath). “Splitting an Order� explores and celebrates old age and old love (the titular poem) and also the treasures of memory. I dog-eared 11 out of over fifty poems -usually I only turn corners on 2 per book, sometimes none.
The prose poem, “Small Rooms in Time� especially caught at my heart. Kooser once built a tiny replica of his wife‘s ancestral family Nebraska homestead and used it to meditate on the way we inhabit forever certain rooms of our past. It sent me on a journey into my own Swiss past and ancestral chalets and the memories no one can take from me, even though new owners razed a two hundred year old treasure for a 7 bathroom monster mansion.
The best poetry sends you deep back into yourself -but not alone, because others have blazed their way before you and in tandem.
The prose poem, “Small Rooms in Time� especially caught at my heart. Kooser once built a tiny replica of his wife‘s ancestral family Nebraska homestead and used it to meditate on the way we inhabit forever certain rooms of our past. It sent me on a journey into my own Swiss past and ancestral chalets and the memories no one can take from me, even though new owners razed a two hundred year old treasure for a 7 bathroom monster mansion.
The best poetry sends you deep back into yourself -but not alone, because others have blazed their way before you and in tandem.
April 10, 2022
WOW. I need to take the library recommendations more seriously. I was intrigued by this book 1) because it’s National poetry month and I love poetry 2) the beautiful oil painting on the cover caught my eye. When I sat down to read this, I had no idea what to expect, and I was surprised how moved I was when I read these poems. Every poem captures a moment: the ones that are small, beautiful, and ordinary. In every poem, Kooser would describe the moment in vivid detail and then spice up the ending with some profound thought about life. I loved it! This was truly one of the best poetry collections I’ve read.
My favorites:
“Splitting an Order� (this one is so sweet!)
“Bad News�
“A Meeting after Many Years� (this one made me very sad)
“Zinc Lid�
“At a Kitchen Table�
“A Morning in Early Spring�
“The Past�
“Deep Winter�
“Hands in the Wind�
My favorites:
“Splitting an Order� (this one is so sweet!)
“Bad News�
“A Meeting after Many Years� (this one made me very sad)
“Zinc Lid�
“At a Kitchen Table�
“A Morning in Early Spring�
“The Past�
“Deep Winter�
“Hands in the Wind�
July 29, 2023
I love Ted Kooser’s poetry. It’s accessible, smart, and uses everyday moments to portray the eternal. In “Hands in the Wind,� he compares oak leaves to hands� and carries the metaphor forward: “They had probably/blown there from trees in the cemetery/just down the block and had gathered/to wait, folded over each other,/faded old hands with brown liver spots,/young hands with a sheen to their skin …� He employs his gift for metaphor again in “Dead Fly,� which begins, “This black sedan lies on its top/on the kitchen windowsill, its wheels/in the air, its battery drained,/the oil trickling into the cylinders…� So much from something so little. This book also includes an essay, “Small Rooms in Time,� in which he writes about a home where he lived as a young adult becoming the scene of a murder 30 years later. This book is a keeper
November 12, 2024
Ted Kooser has not quite kicked Billy Collins off the top of my favorite current poet list, but he's close and maybe getting closer. This was a joy to read. The poem for which the book was named was a delight. His ability to take the simplest subject and turn it into a thing of interest is unsurpassed, witness some of the titles: "Dead Fly," "A Mouse in a Trap," "Changing Drivers," etc. My favorite, however, is "The Past": "What we remember of it is what we began to memorize as children.....And if someone should call one of our scenes into question, we rush to its defense, afraid that the window will crack and collapse with a crash and we will have nowhere to turn to see ourselves reflected in what we have so carefully created and directed."
April 21, 2025
Ever since I read In January, Ted Kooser has been one of my favorite poets. Splitting an Order has all the hallmarks of Kooser's best poetry: accessibility, clarity, and shimmering verse that captures the tiny moments that define our humanity. He is simply superb!
By contrast, this book made me think about the armies of the aging who keep reaching for relevance in a world where their glory days are beginning to dim. From plastic surgery to prose and verse stretched too thin from reinvention. Kooser, instead seems an aging man comfortable in his own skin; he writes into the wrinkles, acknowledges time, distills for us the essence of a simple life, well-lived:
"still rippling, a weighty thing
like life itself, in which you dip
the leaky cup of your hands
and drink."
By contrast, this book made me think about the armies of the aging who keep reaching for relevance in a world where their glory days are beginning to dim. From plastic surgery to prose and verse stretched too thin from reinvention. Kooser, instead seems an aging man comfortable in his own skin; he writes into the wrinkles, acknowledges time, distills for us the essence of a simple life, well-lived:
"still rippling, a weighty thing
like life itself, in which you dip
the leaky cup of your hands
and drink."
December 14, 2024
This is a wonderful book of poetry. Kooser is a poet from Nebraska and one can feel the midwest in these poems. They speak of the many aspects of life. Kooser was the U.S. Poet Laureate in 2004. I am looking forward to reading another book of Kooser poems. It is interesting that I learned of Kooser from William Kent Krueger's latest Cork O'Connor book. Annie, one of O'Connor's daughters read Kooser. From that I looked it up and found this treasure.
I recommend this book if you enjoy poetry. These is one writing in the book that is narrative not poetry.
I read this book slowly, one poem a day or so.
I recommend this book if you enjoy poetry. These is one writing in the book that is narrative not poetry.
I read this book slowly, one poem a day or so.
August 23, 2019
I rarely read a book of poetry straight through. I usually skip around, get the lay of the land, and, if I like it, read a few more poems, some out loud to my wife. Then I set it aside. When I started reading Splitting an Order I read it straight through, many of them out loud to my wife. Simple, straightforward, seemingly mundane but then a kind of "of yeah." Not a "wow" but a "oh yes, nice." If you thought you didn't like poetry, give Kooser a chance.
July 29, 2020
This book had some good poems, particularly in the second section, but I felt overall, it was kind of uneven. I also thought the addition of the essay, "Small Rooms in Time" seemed out of place. Not that it wasn't interesting, it just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the collection. Still, like the best of TK, he looks at the small and manages to bring out all of its detail so that you can see familiar things, like possums and dead bats and fathers and sons in a new way.
December 28, 2017
Ted Kooser is a master of making mundane memorable. He's inspiring, by encasing daily details in a fresh light. Another strong point: his ability to keep a phrase going (sometimes one poem is one single phrase!), in perfect harmony and sense.
My favorite poem in this collection: Hands in the Wind, followed closely by...all the others, really.
My favorite poem in this collection: Hands in the Wind, followed closely by...all the others, really.
October 30, 2018
This took me too long to read, and I haven't done the poetry thing in a while, both of which could be reasons I didn't like this one quite as much as Delights and Shadows, which I read last year. Not as many standouts in this one, I don't think. That being said, most of these poems still show off Kooser's uncanny ability to find profundity in the everyday.
October 7, 2023
Collection of sketch like and observation based poems. I enjoyed Two, opossum, birdhouse, painting the barn, small rooms in time - the last part really ties everything together. Has themes of nature, aging, the everyday pleasures and occurrences of life, and death. The tone stays near the same throughout so it can be easy to get lost in it sometimes. 3.5
May 7, 2024
A beautiful poetry collection. Piercing observations of rural life, forgotten places, and the natural world--one of my favorite poems is "Tree Frog," describing an early morning tree frog as "this dollop of life now sound asleep on the porch steps." Moving, melancholy, delighted poems of a fading and fragile world.
August 18, 2018
Not quite as good as Delights and Shadows but still a great read -- Ted Kooser doesn't disappoint!
Favorites:
*110th birthday
At Arby’s, at Noon
In a Gift Shop
Two
Garrison, Nebraska
A Mouse in a Trap
Sleep Apnea
First Marriage
*New Moon
Spanish Lessons
Awakening
Favorites:
*110th birthday
At Arby’s, at Noon
In a Gift Shop
Two
Garrison, Nebraska
A Mouse in a Trap
Sleep Apnea
First Marriage
*New Moon
Spanish Lessons
Awakening
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