Abandoned Farmhouse Analysis

3 Overview “Abandoned Farmhouse,” written by American poet Ted Kooser, changed the trajectory of Kooser’s poetic reception with its publication in Sure Signs: New and Selected Poems (1980) by the University of Pittsburgh Press. His work up until this point had mostly been limited to small regional press publications. However, as part of the renowned Pitt Poetry series, a showcase for a diverse range of contemporary American poets, Kooser’s Sure Signs collection found a wider audience and received critical praise. It also received the Society of Midland Authors Award for best book of poetry by a Midwestern writer written that year. Kooser has won many awards since then; from 2004-2006, he served as Poet Laureate of the United States. “Abandoned Farmhouse” is an early poem—one of the few selected for the above-mentioned collection from his first book, Official Entry Blank (1969). The poem exemplifies much of what he is best known for. It is a lyrical poem of vivid images telling a story in plain language. His character portraits have been compared to those of Edwin Arlington Robinson and The Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. Like Robert Frost, Kooser is not a “regional poet” in the diminutive, provincial sense. Instead, he is a poet who draws from specific details of life in the Great Plains to create widely accessible poems exploring universal themes. “Abandoned Farmhouse” looks at loss, isolation, and perception in its cataloguing of items left behind. Poet Biography Ted Kooser has spent his life in the American Midwest. He was born April 25, 1939 in Ames, Iowa, and grew up in the small city. In 1962 he graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in English education. Nebraska became his state of residence when he moved there to attend graduate school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln the following year. Though he won a contest award for poetry from the college in 1964, academia didn’t suit him. He dropped out due to poor grades, but he continued to attend night classes and earned his master’s degree in 1968. Kooser made a living in the insurance business despite having no training or interest in it. He only applied because the company had an open entry-level position. He took full advantage of the opportunity and worked as an executive in the industry for 35 years. He wrote poetry 4 almost every morning from around five o’ clock to when it was time to leave for the office at seven. During his years of employment, more than six books saw publication. Kooser retired from his position as vice-president of an Allstate subsidiary company at age 60, shortly after undergoing surgery for oral cancer. His book Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison (2001) is a collection of daily poems he wrote while recovering from radiation treatments. At least nine more books have been published after his retirement. Red Stilts was released in 2020 by Copper Canyon Press. Kooser has won numerous awards during his career, including two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships (1978, 1984), the Stanley Kunitz Poetry Prize (1984), Pushcart Prizes (1984, 2005, 2009, 2012), and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (2005). He has received honorary doctorates from four colleges—including one from the University of Nebraska, where he taught poetry and non-fiction writing. He is now Presidential Professor Emeritus at the university. Kooser served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2004 to 2006. As the country’s representative poet, he strove to promote poetry in all its forms. He wanted to make poetry more visible and interesting to the public. In sponsorship with the University of Nebraska’s English Department and the Poetry Foundation, he started a newspaper column: “American Life in Poetry.” It offers a free weekly poem accompanied by a short introduction. Though he has retired from writing it, the service continues to reach around 4.5 million readers via email distribution and the American Life in Poetry website. Kooser currently lives in Nebraska with his wife. In addition to poetry, he writes essays and books for children. Poem Text Kooser, Ted. “Abandoned Farmhouse.” 1980. Poetry Foundation. Summary The poem begins by establishing a pattern: A series of objects in and around the abandoned farmhouse share details and offer inferences about the former inhabitants. 5 In the first line, the size of a man’s shoes says he was a “big man.” Those shoes are located “on a pile of broken dishes by the house” (Line 2). The bed says he was tall (Line 3), the Bible (Line 5) reveals he was “a good, God-fearing man” (Line 4). The first stanza ends with the fields “cluttered with boulders” and a “leaky barn” (Line 8) telling the reader he wasn’t much of a farmer. The second stanza moves to other members of the family and offers more detail about their living conditions. The poem hints at a woman’s existence with the bedroom’s flowered wallpaper and the lined kitchen shelves (Lines 9-11). A “sandbox made from a tractor tire” (Line 12) is evidence a child had lived there, too. Preserves and canned vegetables indicate poverty (Lines 13-14). Rag-stuffed windows (Line 15) and the house’s location on a “narrow country road” (Line 16) speak to freezing temperatures and isolation. The third and final stanza begins with the empty house saying, “Something went wrong” (Line 17). In the next three lines the narrator revisits the yard, fields, and cellar jars. They “left in a nervous haste” (Line 20), the reader is told. The last image is of the child’s toys “strewn in the yard / like branches after a storm” (Lines 21-22), and the poem concludes with a return to the phrase “Something went wrong, they say” (Line 24). A specific reason is never offered, and the mystery goes unsolved. 6 Poem Analysis Analysis: “Abandoned Farmhouse” The poem opens with an apparently neutral observation about an unnamed man who used to occupy the abandoned farmhouse. His shoe size indicates he was “a big man” (Line 1). The next line reveals the shoes have been left “on a pile of broken dishes by the house” (Line 2). The shoes don’t say they have any damage, and the narrator provides no reason for their abandonment. The reader also learns from “the length of the bed” (Line 3) that the man in question was tall. Big, tall men are symbolic of strength and capability to many. Possessing these culturally valued characteristics could not save the farm from its abandonment, however. And though there can be comfort in identifying a culprit for the farmhouse’s abandonment (if a reason is found, perhaps an unfavorable outcome can be avoided in the future), in the poem’s case, nothing is that clear. Despite offering a list of observations, the poem sows doubt about the accuracy of surface observations. It is impossible to know the full story of another’s life, the poem suggests, especially when they aren’t there to speak up for themselves. At the same time, the poem suggests it is important to look at the world and observe. The first stanza continues to share details. The Bible is present in an upstairs room. It tells readers he was “a good, God-fearing man” (Line 4). He had faith, at least at one time. The poem then notes the Bible has “a broken back” (Line 5). This could mean it had been read so often it fell apart, or it could have suffered some damage during an outburst, through neglect, or by accident. Broken or not, it was left behind “on the floor below the window, dusty with sun” (Line 6). Its current state is equal to the pile of dishes and the shoes. The man’s faith may have been broken at the same time—or it may serve as evidence of the speed of departure. If a man of faith didn’t pick up this holy book there must have been incredible urgency. Kooser draws attention to the limits of our perceptions, observations, and desire to know by revealing through the poem’s details that truth is impossible to know. The fields do say the man was “not a man for farming” (7) and offer evidence to support their claim. The fields are “cluttered with boulders” and the “leaky barn” agrees with the negative assessment (Line 8). The phrase “not a man for farming” is telling. It can be interpreted as not 7 being suited to farm work. It can also underscore the man’s disinclination toward labor— much was left undone. Again, the poem folds multiple interpretations and ambiguities into what at first appears to be a simple, straightforward image. The second stanza reveals the presence of a woman in the house. She is announced by the “bedroom wall / papered with lilacs” (Lines 9-10). The pattern points to an appreciation of beauty and a delicate femininity. It stands in contrast to the cluttered fields, though in the end, the wallpaper can offer only fake flowers. There is no more real growth there than in the fields. The woman and the man had a child, who is brought into the poem by “the sandbox made from a tractor tire” (Line 12). Readers familiar with life on a farm may recognize the classic bit of repurposing ingenuity. The sandbox shows the place wasn’t completely bereft of joy or care. The woman, unlike her husband, is linked to caretaking. Her kitchen was tended to. The shelves were “covered with oilcloth” (Line 11) and her cellar was stocked with “jars of plum preserves” and “canned tomatoes” (Lines 13-14). Those goods say, “Money was scarce” (Line 13). She had to be resourceful to survive. The “rags in the window frames” (Line 15) indicate how cold winter was. The farmhouse is located on a “narrow country road” (Line 16). It says, “It was lonely here” (Line 16). Life at the farm was rough. The sense of isolation is palpable, especially since it is expressed here, not by people, but by things. A contradiction lies in the heart of the poem. Though it is filled with things, absence is the standout feeling. The tone is melancholy and resigned. The last stanza begins, “Something went wrong, says the empty house” (Line 17). It does not know what. That kind of knowledge is outside of its understanding. The house stands in a “weed-choked yard” (18). The vivid image hints of violence—or at least suffocation. The pressure grows as the stanza continues. “Stones in the fields” (Line 18) add their weight to the judgment of the man: “he was not a farmer” (Line 19). The jars are “still sealed” (Line 19) under the earth in the cellar (Line 20). 8 Everything seems trapped, hemmed in, and pressed down until a mystery trigger was pulled. At that point, the end comes quickly—like all that restrained energy was released in a burst. The jars and cans in the cellar “say she left in a nervous haste” (Line 20). A poor family wouldn’t leave precious food behind unless they were running. The final four lines include a question: “And the child?” (Line 21). Readers may be wondering the same thing. The child hasn’t been mentioned in eight lines. The farmhouse says, “Its toys are strewn in the yard / like branches after a storm” (Lines 20-21). The pronoun choice emphasizes how little we know about the child. Using “it” in this context is likely an artifact of the time the poem was written and is not a reactionary statement about gender-neutral inclusive language. The child is not depicted as Other, and yet they are given no name, no gender, and no age. Like the child’s parents, the only way to know them is through their former possessions. The child’s lack of agency and power in the situation makes the loss more poignant. The toys, “a rubber cow, / a rusty tractor with a broken plow, / a doll in overalls” (Lines 22-24), look like they have been blown about by a storm. The state of the toys reflects life on the farm. The farmer’s tools are poor and the child’s toys have seen better days. The question “And the child?” leads to others. What could have possibly happened to make a family leave behind what few toys a child has? There is no answer. All the farmhouse can offer is a return to the ambiguous and ineffectual conjecture given at the beginning of the stanza: “Something went wrong, they say” (Line 24). What that could be is left to the reader’s imagination. The family may have had to snatch the child away and run. Something may have happened to the child. Maybe too many losses piled up and everything broke all at once. In the end, the careful observations and vivid details paint a picture. The observer can formulate theories about cause and effect and can spin stories about it. Empathy and imagination are powerful gifts and yet neither can give us any definitive answer. Maybe that’s okay, the poem says. We can’t know everything. What we can do, however, is open our eyes to our surroundings and contemplate the shape of our own lives. 9 Contextual Analysis Literary Context “Abandoned Farmhouse” finds influence in the early-20th-century imagist movement by using concrete images, favoring a natural voice over heightened poetic diction, and eschewing formal metrical structure. American poet Ezra Pound’s foundational work “A Retrospect” (1918) includes “A Few Don’ts”—a set of mistakes to avoid when writing imagist poetry. Don’t let superfluous words clutter the poem, for instance. Writers also shouldn’t allow abstractions to dilute the precision of the observation: “The natural object is always the adequate symbol,” Pound writes (Pound, Ezra. “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste.” 30 Oct 2005. Poetry Foundation). A similar assertion is made by William Carlos Williams’s line inPaterson (1927): “No ideas but in things.” Abstract ideas do not produce clear, specific pictures set in a single context. Love, truth, freedom, or justice can’t be seen directly. A description of rags stuffed in a window is something a reader can imagine. By giving a reader something tangible to hold onto, the poet is giving meaning a place to build on. This approach is a primary characteristic of Kooser’s poetry. “Abandoned Farmhouse” features a series of direct descriptions that communicate an emotional impression. “Abandoned Farmhouse” also exhibits the characteristics of a lyric. The language, though plain-spoken, carries a strong musicality. Though no central first-person “I” speaks, the collective voice of the objects communicates emotion. Just enough plot is shared to establish context without overtaking the whole. The lyric poem is often short and tightly focused, making it fit comfortably with an imagist’s style. Historical Context Kooser’s poetry takes inspiration from the landscape and culture of Nebraska—a state shaped by its agriculture. From the early days of settlement, this land attracted farmers and ranchers. Railroad companies interested in keeping the area well-supplied with food and workers sold parcels of land to those willing to brave the conditions. Despite hope for success, farming has always been hard work. Droughts, pests, and bad weather can ruin even the most capable farmers. The famous Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s, for instance, affected 10 part of Nebraska. Storms could blanket an area, such as where the poem’s farmhouse sits, with heaps of dirt blown in from dry wheat fields. Economic insecurity also played a role in devastating industry and individuals. In the 1980s, a farm crisis hit the United States. Rapidly accumulating farm debt, high interest rates, and inflation-era oil prices in the 1970s stressed the system. Low commodity prices and a limited export market added more pressure. Moreover, falling land prices contributed to record numbers of foreclosures in the mid-eighties. Even without economic insecurity, abandoned farmhouses are not an uncommon sight in farming communities. Kooser’s choice to include the poem in a 1980 collection speaks to both a historical moment and a living cultural experience. 11 Themes Loss Permeates Experience Loss permeates experience and leaves debris in its wake. The objects in “Abandoned Farmhouse” point to it and speak of it, even when those who have experienced the loss have tried to leave it behind. The persistence of its power suggests the family will never quite be free of it, no matter how far they travel. The poem depicts loss as a feature of landscape—as an intrinsic part of the human condition. An empty farmhouse littered with items left behind in a hasty departure is a concrete depiction of loss. The former inhabitants lost these material objects and their home if/when they ran away. The picture is a devastating one on the literal level alone. Yet the poem asks its readers to examine what else is lost. The decision to abandon a home is never a light one. “Abandoned Farmhouse” offers no direct narration of the events leading up to the flight and forces readers to deduce what has happened from evidence. It says the farm has failed because the man has failed. Fields haven’t been properly cleared. The “weed-choked” yard (Line 18) and “leaky barn” (Line 8) show signs of neglect. “Money was scarce” (Line 13). This evidence suggests a loss of status, confidence, and income, all of which can erode a sense of self and safety. The final image of the poem focuses on toys and hints at deeper loss. “A rubber cow, / a rusty tractor with a broken plow, / a doll in overalls” (Lines 22-24) are “strewn in the yard / like branches after a storm” (Lines 21-22). The phrase “Something went wrong, they say” (Line 24) follows. The drive to create a story comes to a head here, forcing readers to consider the possibility of tragedy. The death or injury of a child might be enough to end hope for most people and to break faith like the Bible left in the upstairs room. The poem doesn’t directly say one way or another, forcing readers to not only experience loss but to confront ambiguity. Isolation and Community The farmhouse stands alone, empty and abandoned by the family who once lived there. Even when it was inhabited, the place is described in terms of isolation. “It was lonely here, says the narrow country road” (Line 16). The place and its people apparently stood apart from a vital part of farm life: community. There is no evidence of outside communication. There are 12 no letters, no gifts, no contact information posted on a wall. The family lived and suffered on their own. The man, woman, and child are described separately—item by item and room by room. The only kind of tangible evidence of togetherness appears in two simple declarations of fact: “A woman lived with him” (Line 9) and “they had a child” (Line 11). The place does not otherwise speak of comfort or closeness. The only community present in the poem is that of the farmhouse—the voices of individual items which together offer a kind of collective testimony. “Abandoned Farmhouse” looks at the damage of isolation and loss of community by sharing a cautionary tale involving the aftermath of both. The Nature of Perception Kooser’s poem explores the nature of perception by encouraging readers to question perception and the conclusions drawn from it. For example, it isn’t all that difficult to identify a structure as abandoned. The signs are often clear enough to see from the road—and it’s quite likely an observer would forget it as soon as it drops out of sight. Kooser doesn’t allow the reader to stop at the surface, however. The poem’s careful catalogue of details demonstrates how much information others can easily ignore. The poem invites readers to question how much about a person or a place can be known from observation alone. It also encourages thoughts about perspective—how context affects what is seen and how people understand it. The “things” in the poem speak, but they can only say so much because their perceptions are limited. Though Kooser’s imagery is straightforward and relatively easy to visualize, piecing together a narrative is more difficult despite the clues. The most difficult of all are the intangibles—those things that defy perception. The farmhouse cannot tell us what was in the hearts of the family. Their old possessions cannot say all that was broken there. Readers may want all the answers, but the poem doesn’t give them. “Abandoned Farmhouse” demonstrates how a whole world of detail is out there, waiting to be noticed—even when it defies total understanding. Kooser has compared the way we respond to poems to the way we respond to artwork. A painting can stop us in our tracks and a poem can evoke powerful emotion—even though we might not immediately know why or how. 13 Kooser believes we don’t need to know. He says, “I mean we can, upon analysis figure it out: What is it about that painting that makes it so thrilling, but we have to use language to do that, and our response to a painting is not in language but in the viscera, in the heart.” (Baker, David. “A Conversation with Ted Kooser.” 2007. Kenyon Review). 14 Symbols & Motifs Earth Earth appears in several forms in “Abandoned Farmhouse.” First, it is the earth of the farm. The fields “cluttered with boulders” (Line 8) and “Stones in the fields” (Line 18) tell us the man “was not a farmer” (Line 19). In his hands, the earth remains a hard, rocky place yielding only a “weed-choked yard” (Line 18). There’s no harmony between man and farm, here. Instead, earth becomes more closely identified as a symbol of infertility, futility, and separation. The other examples of earth in the poem further the connection between earth and futility. The upstairs floor is “dusty with sun” (Line 6). Those fine, dry particles revealed in the light are signs of neglect. There is no one there to clean or care. The last connection is a “sandbox made from a tractor tire” (Line 12). The pulverized rock is there to enrich a childhood—the sandbox is a sweet, homelike detail that highlights the child’s absence. Taken together, farm, field, stone, dust, and sand all build a combined symbol of loss. Preserves The jars of plum preserves and the canned tomatoes (Lines 13-14) help introduce the woman and the house’s deprivations. Those jars say, “Money was scarce” (Line 13). The family had to use whatever they could to survive. The stores indicate some ingenuity, and as the name suggests, a need to preserve. They symbolize, in part, our attempts to prepare for the uncertainties of the future. They are also, in a concrete sense, sustenance. So, it is particularly telling that perfectly good food in “still-sealed jars” (Line 19) has been abandoned along with things like the “pile of broken dishes by the house” (Line 2). The jars “say she left in a nervous haste” (Line 20). The poem presents many details as practical objects. The jars are filled with plum preserves. They are also symbols of hard work, planning, and struggles of life on the farm. In works like Susan Glaspell’s play Trifles (1916), preserves are symbols closely associated with women because they are traditionally tied to female labor. The preserves in “Abandoned Farmhouse” are not an allusion to the play, though they exist in a shared rural and cultural context. Toys The toys in the poem are another symbol of loss. By their nature, toys are tied to childhood 15 and imaginative play—they can embody dreams. Children are often given toys that mirror pieces of their lives. They reenact dramas and try on grown-up roles. Kitchen toys, little vehicles, toolboxes, doctor’s bags, and baby dolls are designed for that kind of play. The cow, tractor, and “doll in overalls” (Line 24) would allow a child to play farmer. Given the description of the man as “not a man for farming” (Line 7), he may have been playing at it, too. The toys are battered, “rusty” and “broken” (Line 23). The farmer doll’s tools are inadequate and symbolize failure. In “Abandoned Farmhouse” toys represent the ending of dreams and the death of at least one possibility. The farm toys were left scattered around the yard “like branches after a storm” (Line 22). Whether the reader chooses to interpret this image as violent tragedy or as an indicator of a particularly panicked flight—one part is clear: Farm life is over. The dream is done. 16 Literary Devices Form and Meter “Abandoned Farmhouse” is written in unrhymed free verse organized into three stanzas of eight lines each. Though it doesn’t follow a set formal pattern, most of its lines include five stressed syllables, making it sound like the natural iambic pentameter of conversational speech. It is an accessible and familiar rhythm presented in an orderly form. The surprises in the poem’s form occur within the lines. The syntax of some of the sentences is eccentric, falling into a pattern not unlike those of fairy tales or nursery rhymes. “He was a big man, says the size of his shoes” (Line 1) and “A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall” (Line 9). The pattern becomes an effective structuring mechanism as it repeats throughout the poem. Enjambment presents more significant challenges. Splitting phrases further breaks syntax and creates a pause. “He was a big man, says the size of his shoes / on a pile of broken dishes by the house” (Lines 1-2) and “A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall / papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves” (Lines 9-10). All three stanzas begin with this surprise break. There’s nothing to indicate the description will go on, but it does. It doesn’t obscure meaning, but it does potentially subvert expectations. Other instances are easier to anticipate. Line 18 ends with the beginning of a sentence: “Stones in the fields” that carries over to the first part of the next, “say he was not a farmer” (Line 19). This too becomes a structuring device. The overall effect is a weakening of the impression of order. There are stops and starts— moments where a connection hovers before connecting. In this way, the form of the poem echoes some of its core themes. Personification Personification occurs when an object is given human characteristics. “Abandoned Farmhouse” is filled with objects who share their perceptions. Initially, the information could be presented as unvoiced evidence in the same way that we might say that evidence speaks. The length of a bed could “say” a man is tall. As the poem progresses, the voices speak more clearly, offering up judgment (“he was not a farmer” (Line 18)) or interpretation (“It was lonely 17 here, says the narrow country road” (Line 16)). In the absence of people, the objects serve as guides to the place. Kooser believes that you can show life through details. This happens throughout “Abandoned Farmhouse.” The objects speak for those who left them behind. Ultimately, the personification calls more attention to what is missing: the true human element. The objects are too limited in their perceptions to know the full story. Repetition (Anaphora/Refrain, Alliteration) Repetition provides structure and contributes to the somber tones of the poem. Softer sibilants like “says the size of his shoes” (Line 1) and “still-sealed […] say she” (Lines 19-20) creates a sort of sighing. Harder consonants like “tall man too” (Line 3), “good, God-fearing man” (Line 4), and “Bible with a broken back” (Line 5) provide a series of hitting beats. The elements of sound add flavor to the plain conversational style of the poem, making the voice of the poem straightforward yet clever. Repeating patterns and phrasing also offer stability and help the reader make sense of the scene. They seem particularly well suited to the voices in the poem. Repeated “says the object” phrases constantly remind the reader that the information is coming from items left behind. What speaks and what they can share about the people are grounded in things and emphasize the importance of paying attention to what surrounds us. The final stanza of the poem repeats the refrain “Something went wrong, says the empty house” (Line 17). It’s a true statement, and a worrying one. “Something went wrong, they say” (Line 24). There’s no end to the tension in the phrase. The repetition tells readers it’s important, but there is no conclusion. The poem suggests there can’t be. 18 Further Reading & Resources Related Poems "So This is Nebraska" by Ted Kooser (1980) “So This is Nebraska” appeared in Sure Signs and shares with “Abandoned Farmhouse” a clear sense of place. It, too, speaks through details, but this time the tone is celebratory. Unlike the empty farmhouse’s stasis, this poem has both movement and an active human presence. The gravel road “rides with a slow gallop / over the fields” (Lines 1-2). The aging barns are “dear old ladies” (Line 5) hiding “broken tractors under their skirts” (Line 8). Nebraska is beautiful and warm—a place where “You feel like stopping the car / and dancing around on the road” (Lines 25-26). It’s an interesting comparison that ultimately creates a richer understanding of Kooser’s milieu. "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams (1938) The tightly focused poem features a single image that pushes the reader to think about the meaning and emotion held in things. Physical objects can stabilize both intellect and emotion and allow them to reach greater depths. “Abandoned Farmhouse” has a similar emphasis on detail and the feeling of steadfast practicality. Wheelbarrows, chickens, jars of preserves, and scattered toys are vital to their settings and speak volumes about the lives tied to them. Williams’s poetry was an early and lasting influence on Kooser’s work. "Out, Out" by Robert Frost (1916) “Out, Out” tells a tale of tragedy in a rural setting. The personification of the buzz saw which “snarled and rattled” (Line 1) and “seemed to leap” (Line 16) is more menacing and far less sympathetic than the objects at the abandoned farmhouse, but both poems highlight the hardships of life—even for children. "Cat Moving Kittens" by Austin Smith (2018) “Cat Moving Kittens” is a short lyrical poem by a fellow Midwesterner. Smith is an Illinois poet. This poem shares a discovery of a litter of kittens under a straw bale and the recognition of what their mother’s inevitable response has to be. She will move her babies 19 away from the dangers of scrutiny. The poem explores the hard choices of parenting, especially for those in vulnerable positions. “Cat Moving Kittens” appeared in Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry,” where he introduced it by saying Smith is “an acute observer of the world at hand.” It’s a trait both poets share. "Red Stilts" by Ted Kooser (2020) “Red Stilts” is the work of a mature poet who has fulfilled the promise shown in “Abandoned Farmhouse.” It’s a vivid slice of life—a story of the red stilts the speaker made 70 years ago and the journey that brought him to the present. It is filled with small details: the “saggy, ancient Adirondack chair / no longer good for much but holding hoes” (Lines 7-8), “the summer in my hair” (Line 15), and the sticky, red painted stilts themselves. The humble objects point to larger truths of existence—a consistent feature of Kooser’s poetry. Further Literary Resources Great Plains Literature by Linda Ray Pratt (2018) This title is part of the University of Nebraska Press’s “Discover the Great Plains” series. Its focus is the literary history of both the Canadian and American sections of the bioregion. The book provides a useful and thorough look at the complexities of the physical setting and cultural context so vital to Kooser’s poetry. The book’s final chapter features Kooser. "The Anonymity of the Regional Poet (Ted Kooser)" by Dana Gioia (1992) The essay is a chapter in Dana Gioia’s book Can Poetry Matter? Essays on Poetry and American Culture. In it, he discusses Kooser’s uneasy place in the literary world. He is a popular poet with a good deal of skill and loads of appeal, Gioia argues, yet his work is often relegated to the strictly regional. Gioia discusses a selection of Kooser’s poems in detail and investigates his identity as a regional poet. "An Unmistakable Voice" by Frederick M. Link (1981) Link’s review of Sure Signs was published in the prestigious literary journal Prairie Schooner. It includes a critical look at the collection and calls it a “delight” even as it points out flaws. The article is a useful representation of critical sentiment around the time of the publication of the book. 20 Listen to Poem Ted Kooser reads "Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted Kooser" The poet reads his own work after a short introduction. “You can draw life from details,” he says.