Delights & Shadows

A sense of wonder and compassion runs through this Pulitzer Prize winning volume... Kooser's poetry is understated yet manages to skillfully illuminate the small moments of life.--Christian Science Monitor

[Kooser] brushes poems over ordinary objects, revealing metaphysical themes that way an investigator dusts for fingerprints. His language is so controlled and convincing that one can't help but feel significant truths behind his lines.--The Philadelphia Inquirer

There is a sense of quiet amazement at the core of all Kooser's work, but it especially seems to animate his new collection of poems,Delights & Shadows.Every delight is shadowed by darkness in this book of small wonders and hard dualisms.--Edward Hirsch,The Washington Post

Delights and Shadowsis a book with a deep stillness at its center, perfectly self-contained.--Carol Muske-Dukes,Los Angeles Times

Kooser's ninth collection of poems reflects the simple and remarkable things of everyday life. That he often sees things we do not would be delight enough, but more amazing is exactly what he sees. Nothing escapes him; everything is illuminated....Highly recommended.--Library Journal

Few poets depict the Midwest so accurately or with such tender regard... Kooser excels at the brief, imagistic poem.--The Kansas City Star

Delights and Shadowsraises the voice of the poet above everything else. Each short, vivid poem on the page reads as if it were being spoken aloud. Details about cemeteries, dictionaries, a doctor's waiting room, and a jar of buttons bristle with sound and awareness. Kooser's ability to use brief lyrics to compose a music of discovery and regeneration makes his work radiant and consuming... This is not an extended, complex or experimental kind of writing, but poetry that rings true, allowing the human sound of being to exist on the page.--Bloomsbury Review