By Norah Christianson
Poetry , nowadays especially, is not simple. And because it can be difficult, many people do not read it. Actually, many people actively dislike it. However, Ted Kooser, born in Ames, Iowa in 1939, writes extremely simple and beautiful poems of the everyday world in a manner we can all understand. He does not write from the ivory tower of academia. For 35 years, he worked for Lincoln Benefit Life, a subsidiary of Allstate Insurance Co, and wrote his poetry in the early hours before he went to work.
Here is a little poem of his I love—so simple, yet saying so much about caring for one another and the human connection we so desperately need.
Rooming House
Ted Kooser
The blind man draws his curtains for the night
and goes to bed, leaving a burning light
above the bathroom mirror. Though the wall,
he hears the deaf man walking down the hall
in his squeaky shoes to see if there’s a light
under the blind man’s door, and all is right.
