Ted Kooser

Ted Kooser (1939 - ) was born in Ames, Iowa. Kooser attended Iowa State University and got his Masters at University of Nebraska. He worked for many year as an insurance executive, now retired and teaching half time at the University of Nebraska. Ted was Poet Laureate of the US from 2004- 2006. Now, he is the editor of a weekly newspaper column American Life in Poetry.

New Moon

How much it must bear on its back,

a great ball of blue shadow,

yet somehow it shines, keeps up

an appearance.  For hours tonight

I walked beneath it, learning.

I want to be better at carrying sorrow.

If my face is a mask, formed over

The shadows that fill me,

may I smile on the world like the moon.

— Ted Kooser