◎ 多年以后

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今天，从远处，我看着你远去的

身影，同时一座冰川带着

晶莹灿亮的面庞，悄无声响地

滑落入海。在坎伯兰河流域

一棵老橡树倒下，带着仅存的

少量枝叶，而一位在撒谷喂鸡的

老妇人瞬间抬头

望了一眼。在银河系的

另一端，相当于我们的太阳三十五倍大小的

一颗恒星爆炸， 接着

消失，仅有一颗绿色的斑点

留在天文观测者的

视网膜上，正如他站在我的心灵

那巨大而空阔的穹顶之上，无人倾诉。

 081

After Years    Ted Kooser

Today, from a distance, I saw you
walking away, and without a sound
the glittering face of a glacier
slid into the sea. An ancient oak
fell in the Cumberlands, holding only
a handful of leaves, and an old woman
scattering corn to her chickens looked up
for an instant. At the other side
of the galaxy, a star thirty-five times
the size of our own sun exploded
and vanished, leaving a small green spot
on the astronomer's retina
as he stood on the great open dome
of my heart with no one to tell.

from Solo: A Journal of Poetry, Premiere Issue, Spring 1996

http://s6/mw690/633140acgx6BFgyjEOh15&690

Ted Kooser Biography

Hailed by Dana Gioia as a writer "who has written more perfect poems than any poet of his generation," Kooser is widely praised for his plainspoken style, his gift for metaphor, and his quiet discoveries of beauty in ordinary things. Reviewing Weather Centralfor Poetry , poet and critic David Baker wrote: "Kooser documents the dignities, habits, and small griefs of daily life, our hunger for connection, our struggle to find balance in natural and unnaturally human worlds." In announcing his appointment as Poet Laureate, Librarian of Congress James Billington said, "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." 

Ted Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, in 1939. He received his B.A. from Iowa State and his M.A. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

He is the author of a number of collections of poetry, includingFlying at Night (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005), Delights & Shadows (Copper Canyon, 2004); Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry (Copper Canyon, 2003) written with fellow poet and longtime friend, Jim Harrison; Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison (2000), which won the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for poetry; Weather Central (1994); One World at a Time (1985); and Sure Signs (1980). His nonfiction books includeThe Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets(University of Nebraska Press, 2005) and Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps (University of Nebraska Press, 2002). 

His many honors include two NEA fellowships in poetry, a Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize from Columbia, the Boatwright Prize from Shenandoah, the Pulitzer Prize, and an appointment as U. S. Poet Laureate. 

He is a professor in the English Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, Nebraska, with his wife Kathleen Rutledge, the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star.