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    Today's poem from an email I receive regularly from the Library of Congress is called Summer in a Small Town. I thought members of the Rural Education Group would appreciate it. 

    When the men leave me,
they leave me in a beautiful place.
It is always late summer.
When I think of them now,
I think of the place.
And being happy alone afterwards.
This time it’s Clinton, New York.
I swim in the public pool
at six when the other people
have gone home.
The sky is grey, the air hot.
I walk back across the mown lawn
loving the smell and the houses
so completely it leaves my heart empty.

    —Linda Gregg

    It's from a Poet Laureate program called Poetry 180. Can you find any other poems there that reflect the rural experience? 

    One of my favorite poets of the rural experience was Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate of the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006, when then Librarian of Congress introduced him in this way:

    "Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways."

    Find more poems and presentations by consulting the Library's Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate: A Resource Guide. He's now 85 years old and lives in Ames, Iowa.

    U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, 2004-2006. Photo credit: Sarah Greene.

      English/Language Arts    Poetry    U.S. Poet Laureate  

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    Mary, thank you for this introduction! I went hunting following the link to the resource guide above and got completely drawn in to the discussion between poet Ted Kooser and singer-songwriter John Prine, on the differences and similarities between poetry and lyrics. Watch a recording of that event https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692226/?

    A Literary Evening with John Prine and Ted Kooser

     

    Video Player
     
     
    14:00
     
    01:27:32
     
     

    Event video

     

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