Splitting an Order

Splitting an Order is Ted Kooser’s long-awaited follow-up to Delights & Shadows, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. Voiced with his customarily warm, plainspoken tone, these poems plumb the depths of human connection and reveal an empathetic curiosity. The inner worlds and complex histories of ordinary people are witnessed in such everyday places as a car repair shop, a patch of small-town sidewalk, a parking garage, and a chain restaurant. Kooser extends his inquiries to the natural world and its creatures—bats, tree frogs, all manner of birds—finding wonder at every turn. “I have pushed aside some of my own fear,” he admits to an opossum, “to admire you.” And yet, strains of melancholy season the work, as Kooser meditates on love, loss, aging, and the small contentments that add up to his life.