From Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry
by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser
Each time I go outside the world
is different. This has happened
all my life.
*
The moon put her hand
over my mouth and told me
to shut up and watch.
*
The clock stopped at 5:30
for three months.
Now it’s always time to quit work,
have a drink, cook dinner.
#
Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry (Copper Canyon Press, 2003) by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser was released 10 years ago — but remains a remarkable testament to poetry, friendship, nature, and life. In the late 1990s, after nearly four decades as an executive in the insurance industry, Ted Kooser was diagnosed with cancer — and decided to quit his job and quit writing poetry, which he had done from 5:30 to 7:00 a.m. each morning before going to work.
After his recovery and remission, Kooser started to write short poems inspired by his morning walks. He then mailed each poem on a postcard to his friend — novelist and poet Jim Harrison. The poems appear in Kooser’s 2001 release WINTER MORNING WALKS: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison (Carnegie Mellon). The two writers continued their correspondence of short poems — resulting in BRAIDED CREEK: A Conversation in Poetry, a collection of over 300 poems. According to the publisher, “Harrison and Kooser decided to remain silent over who wrote which poem, allowing their voices, ideas, and images to swirl and merge into this remarkable suite of lyrics.”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Jim Harrison is the author of thirty books, including Legends of the Fall, Dalva, and Shape of the Journey. His work has been translated into two dozen languages and produced as four feature-length films. In 2007, Mr. Harrison was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He divides his time between Montana and southern Arizona. As Poet Laureate of the United States (2004-2006), Ted Kooser launched the weekly poetry column “American Life in Poetry,” which appears in over 100 newspapers nationwide. He is the author of ten books of poems, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Delights & Shadows. He lives in Nebraska.
PHOTO: Jim Harrison (left) and Ted Kooser by Don Usner (Lannan Foundation), ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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April 25th is Ted Kooser’s 74th birthday — and we send him our best wishes. We are honored to include his poetry in the Silver Birch Press SUMMER ANTHOLOGY — a collection of poetry & prose from authors around the world — available June 1, 2013.
