Ted Kooser
1939-Present
Tattoo by pulitzer
prize winner Ted
Kooser
Background
Attended -Iowa State University (B.S. 1962), and the University of Nebraska (M.A. 1968).
In 2005 Kooser received a Pulitzer Prize for Delights & Shadows (2004).
Ted Kooser lives in rural Nebraska with his wife, Kathleen, and three dogs.
Could you tell us about growing up, your family? My father managed a store in Ames, Iowa, which was then a
small college town, and my mother was a traditional homemaker. My parents had the requisite two children,
myself and my younger sister. We were never affluent but never hungry either. I had a very happy middleclass childhood with a number of friends in a friendly town.
Ted Kooser was asked why he started writing “I wrote poems in grade school, but we all were encouraged to
do that. By the time I got to the 9th grade, I got the idea that I could be mysterious and attractive to girls if I
were an artist or a poet. I didn’t have much else going for me, had no athletic ability, couldn’t play a musical
instrument. But I could write poems, and I had girls for motivation. And, yes, it worked.”
Kooser is married to Kathleen Rutledge, They have one son and two grandchildren.
Poem
What once was meant to be a statement a dripping dagger held in the fist of
a shuddering heart is now just a bruise on a bony old shoulder, the spot
where vanity once punched him hard and the ache lingered on. He looks
like someone you had to reckon with, strong as a stallion, fast and ornery,
but on this chilly morning, as he walks between the tables at a yard sale with
the sleeves of his tight black T-shirt rolled up to show us who he was, he is
only another old man, picking up broken tools and putting them back, his
heart gone soft and blue with stories.
Audio of poem
https://youtu.be/a4EjrhvzK_k
Connection
The connection i had to the poem After
reading it is I now understand the past will
carry on with us and have consequences .
Even though I am young I am still able to relate
to somethings in my past that carry on with
me. The connection i had to the poem.
Meaning of poem
Ted Kooser’s “Tattoo” is a short poem about lost love and
age as expressed through a man’s tattoo. The speaker is
an observer as they watch an older man who “walks
between the tables at a yard sale” (Line 10). The speaker
draws conclusions based on the symbolism of this
man’s tattoo and his actions. This is a man who can’t let
go of the past and remains permanently bruised by hurt
pride and heartbreak.
Speaker,Theme
It uses an unreliable narration by an unknown speaker.
This is a man who can’t let go of the past and remains permanently bruised by
hurt pride and heartbreak.
Hearts generally represent love, and in this case, the heart’s shape is that of a
“fist” (Line 2). The entry of the dagger represents the man’s wound. However,
the dagger is not so much stabbing the heart as being gripped by it, as the heart
.
Favorite Lines
“He looks like
someone you had to reckon with,
strong as a stallion”
“he is only another old man, picking up
broken tools and putting them back”