The Wheeling Year: A Poet's Field Book

by Ted Kooser

Ted Kooser sees a writer’s workbooks as the stepping-stones on which a poet makes his way across the stream of experience toward a poem. Because those wobbly stones are only inches above the quotidian rush, what’s jotted there has an immediacy that is intimate and close to life.
Kooser, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a former U.S. poet laureate, has filled scores of workbooks. The Wheeling Year offers a sequence of contemplative prose observations about nature, place, and time arranged according to the calendar year.
Written by one of America’s most beloved poets, this book is published in the year in which Kooser turns seventy-five, with sixty years of workbooks stretching behind him.
 

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Memoir, Writing

96 pages, Hardcover

First published July 17, 2014

About the author

Ted Kooser lives in rural Nebraska with his wife, Kathleen, and three dogs. He is one of America's most noted poets, having served two terms as U. S. Poet Laureate and, during the second term, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection, Delights & Shadows. He is a retired life insurance executive who now teaches part-time at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The school board in Lincoln, Nebraska, recently opened Ted Kooser Elementary School, which Ted says is his greatest honor, among many awards and distinctions. He has published twelve collections of poetry and three nonfiction books. Two of the latter are books on writing, The Poetry Home Repair Manual and Writing Brave and Free, and a memoir, Lights on a Ground of Darkness (all from University of Nebraska Press. Bag in the Wind from Candlewick is his first children's book, with which he is delighted. "It's wonderful," Ted said, "to be writing for young people. I am reinventing myself at age 70."

Reviews

[Joan Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tone of these wonderfully perceptive prose poems is frequently elegiac as might be expected of a poet in his 75th year. Kooser is an acute observer of the smallest things: a spider, an embroidered pillowcase, a morning glory, a mouse, that serve as metaphors for the larger philosophical ponderings: how to live, what to value, the nature of passage. This is a book to savor and return to.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful little book was on my Christmas list a year ago and I have kept it on my desk ever since receiving it, dipping into it from month to month as each season has come and gone. I feel as if Ted Kooser (one of my favorite poets) has been right here with me, reminding me to slow down and pay attention to what makes ordinary life so extraordinary. “Each hour’s a gift,” he says, “to those who take it up.” Thanks to his attention to detail combined with his poet’s way with words, his book is proof that those gifts are within easy reach of all us, provided we take the time to notice.

From the first entry (on New Year’s Day) the book has the look and feel of a poet’s journal, and no wonder. Kooser has kept a journal for many years and says it’s a way to take good care of one’s heart. (I loved reading that because I’ve kept a journal myself for over 40 years and up until now I’ve never had a very good explanation for why I stick with it!)

In the preface to this book, Kooser says he’s always admired the journals of a friend of his, an artist, who has filled field books with watercolor sketches, pencil drawings and notes. And so Kooser has modeled this book on his friend’s, but instead of using paints, he has used his marvelous gift with words to illustrate the landscape of a year’s worth of observations and experiences. Because he’s a poet, these prose entries, look and sound very much like what we find when we read his poetry and they cover a wide range of subjects from light hearted and playful to more profound and somber. He looks closely at the world around him and writes about what he sees, as well as what it feels like to be living inside the perimeters of his life.

Reading this book is a testament to the importance of paying attention to what the writer Kent Haruf has called the “precious ordinary” and reminds me of Robertson Davies’ point about living life deeply instead of rushing around on the surface. The Wheeling Year is meant to be read and re-read, rather than stuffed away on a bookshelf and forgotten. I plan to keep my copy right where it’s been all along – here within easy reach – so that once again I can walk through each month with Ted Kooser to remind me that life is far too precious to waste by not paying attention.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Concordia University Nebraska should try to understand this book because I think it is brilliant and they obviously could not care less about what it has to say.

[Ken]

Unusual in that it's by a poet but not poetry even though it IS poetry. Meaning: This is like the estimable Ted Kooser loaned you his writer's notebook, filled by 12 month's worth of observation. And man, what an observer. The plus is, you get all these cool abstracts anchored in concretes. Great metaphors. Creative flourishes. The minus, if you can really count it as one, is that these are stillborn poems dying to be poetry. Here's a typical example (from November):

"This fat silver star of a birthday balloon has been stopped in its ascent to the heavens by an ordinary ceiling, and now it floats there, belly up, dangling a length of string above the head of the woman whose birthday it is, who works at her desk long after hours, a big stack of years in the basket marked OUT, a few more waiting in the IN."

Some are stronger than others, of course, and all would serve as good poetry-writing practice. Assignment: Take this lovely prose and, cutting words, rearranging words, and possibly adding words, create great poetry.

Thanks to Ted, that would be fairly easy. As an example for what a writer's notebook should look like, this stands at the head of the class. And if you're not writing your observations down, the question becomes, "Why not?"

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

These pieces are verbal whirligigs rather than verse, but they work like poems: they open unexpected perspectives on the mundane. Garbage trucks, rusty pipes, and old age become avenues of enlightenment rather than symbols of despair. They're thoughts caught in the moment before they realize they aren't wearing the clothing of verse. Some of them blush with sentimentality, and some of them bend too easily to unreflective gloom. The result is a kind of unvarnished honesty, served with no pretension.

The plumber carries a collapsible aluminum rod with a little round mirror hinged to one end, and with a flashlight can see around corners and up under things, discovering a stain on a joist or a stud that's been waiting to shine its own light back. For centuries, we let reflections lie, the mountain shining in a hoofprint brimmed with rain, and then somebody picked up something shiny and discovered that by turning it one could assemble all manner of glimpses into another world. And now the plumber does this without thinking, lying tense and heavy on the cellar floor, peering under the floor-length skirt of the broken water heater.

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

*The Wheeling Year* is for me a study in writing about the seasons. Before writing comes noticing and with noticing comes metaphor. This is Kooser's gift he shared in these pages.

The gift doesn't transfer exactly. I don't see things like Kooser and may never see them his way. But I feel my eyes opening. Mr. Kooser is showing me how to see. He's teaching me by sight how to to become alive and call out the life that flourishes right where I am.

This is profound spirituality and Kooser is a gentle, soft-spoken prophet of God. "If you have ears, listen. If you have eyes, see."

[tomlinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short

I love reading
these short pieces
from Ted's journal
Many are already
prose poems
I could write them
but I'd rather collect
my own
if similar
material and work them
into something
if not as good
at least
well-chewed upon

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am a massive Kooser fan, so this review is biased; some excerpts;

"How many moons have I been too busy to notice? Full moons, half moons, quarter moons facing those thousands of suns, watching them bringing the years up, one piece at a time. Even the dark phases of moon after moon, gray stoppers plugged into a starry sky, letting a little light leak out around the edges. By my reckoning, almost a thousand full moons have passed above me now, and I have been too busy and self-absorbed to be thankful for more than a few, though month after month they have patiently laid out my shadow, that velvety cloak that in the moonlit evenings waits for me."

"After many years, two old friends came visiting with gifts, small packages of stories wrapped in the crumpled tissue of age, purchased with tears in our distant past. I wadded the wrapping and tossed it aside, then held each story to the light, a perfect miniature of something gone, and we laughed, and wept with laughter, the three of us together, as if no time had passed, no time at all."

"In the baby’s fist is the first thing he owns, a little ball of air, but soon he tires of this and grabs another, then another after that. So early in life we learn about more, and having more. In more it seems we have eternity, and for years we grasp and grasp, until one day we find that we have less. And then life goes and goes, it floats away, and at the end we find our hand is empty, but for one small ball of air."

"Receiving the news of a death, I stepped to the front of my sadness and worry, and shook out the rag rug of the past, made it snap in the morning light, and memories glittered like stars, with here and there a speck of color or a wisp of hair though it was only common dust to anyone but me."

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this immediately after Joan Didion's "South and West," which is basically a collection of her notes from touring the South in the early 1970s (and a bit of random stuff from California later on). Her words were put to paper with more journalistic intentions, while this collection aims to play in the poet's sandbox. Both books reinforce the value of just writing stuff down as it strikes you, not waiting until later to remember it. Anyone who is writing anything could be inspired by either of these two books, but Kooser, former U.S. poet laureate, will be especially inspiring to poets, or those who aspire to be.

Kooser reminds us that everyday moments can be lyrical, and each of his month-by-month paragraph length musings feels like calisthenics that could easily be woven into longer poetry or prose. I've been reading "Wheeling Year" in conjunction with his guidebooks for writing with more skill and confidence, "Writing Brave and Free" and "The Poetry Home Repair Manual," in preparation for a class I'm taking soon at The Attic Institute here in Portland, my second. Very much enjoying learning from him and feeling more empowered in my writing plans.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Winding Year" is something of a book of wisdom. It is that rare work: the sparest, most simple language, conveying much, creating indelible images, bringing to mind William Blake's seeing the world in a grain of sand and eternity in an hour. I read the book in a single sitting, a testament to the veracity of these lines (though I had not forgotten): "...I had forgotten - how could I have forgotten? - how much pleasure there is in being lost to time, alone with a book." What a wonderful summation of the act of reading: "...being lost to time, alone with a book". And then there is this: "...A person could sit here for hours, entranced by the light beneath the dark vaults in the church of night, believing that grace, with a murmur of wings, will eventually come to the window". This book is overflowing with that winged grace. Grace is a rare thing and I am refreshed and dazzled, having been steeped in it with the reading of this small, unassuming book. Thank you, Ted Kooser.

[Sadie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an artist, I find the preface of this book adorable:

“I've always been covetous of my friend Keith Jacobshagen's journals. Keith is a fine landscape painter, and for more than thirty years he's been filling hardbound orange engineer's field books with drawings, watercolor sketches, and observations. (. . .) But instead of being jealous of the record that Keith's made of his life, I've put together my own little field book, in which I've included sketches and landscape studies made out of words, and thrown in a few observations about life.”

Sketchbooks are pretty magical.

And as for this sketchbook made out of words? So lovely. I had never read anything from Kooser but now I need more since I’m in love with his metaphors and, well, all of his figurative language really. His way of honoring the mundane is so damn enjoyable.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books of poetry I ever read, and easily one of the best for newcomers to poetry. Written in a simple prosaic style that smells nothing like stuffy victorian rhymes, this collection is one of flowing, nearly stream-of-consciousness poems that focus on Kooser's trademark content (midwest imagery) but with an ever-increasing immediacy and focus on mortality.

[Donna Mork · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome book, as all Ted Kooser books are, with great observations of the common world around us as seen through the poets eyes. Makes me wish I could see things more like Mr. Kooser. I'd love to just sit and be tutored by him all day long. Love it! Anyone who wants to be a poet should read this book.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise sounded intriguing - short prose poems by a poet I usually enjoy - but this collection felt stiff and, quite frankly, boring to me. I will, however, keep it on my shelf and can imagine returning to it in the future.

[J Uribe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this book. All Ted Kooser books are fantastic. I own this one. It is good for re-reading!

[Emma Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully designed book and I liked the words too.

[Tanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of short prose poems by Ted Kooser. It's amazing how observant he is, always finding just the right words to describe even the most trivial subjects.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite.

[Ron Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've become a Ted Kooser fan. His creative prose is amazing.

[Joy Kidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyricism woven from the ordinary, month by month through the seasons.

[Darby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that makes you wish you could stop time so you can appreciate every thing and find beauty in what you’d otherwise only glance at without thinking twice about.

[Joann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can never get enough of Ted Kooser’s writing. This is a book to pick up time and time again. His powers of observation astound me.

[Siobhán Mc Laughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ADORED reading this little book over the past year (I've read it month by month; I wanted to devour it all in one sitting, but forced myself to savour it in monthly installments.) Such beautiful observations. Such magic and wonderment from simple daily observations. Such love and curiosity from a poet for the world around him. This book is a testament to poetry's power to transform vision and inspire a deep love and appreciation for the world around us.

This is a poet's notebook,a journal of germinating poems, and it makes for wonderful inspiring reading. Every one of Kooser's observations is infused with pure delight, it is a joy to read:

"Old moon, he's planning a little vacation, just a few days away, but he's a fusser, that one, likes to take care of his things, so he's covered all his furniture with sheets of light - the trees, the super-market parking lot, the streets of houses, even the back of a cat on a porch - just to keep the stardust off while he's away."

"Each of these leaves had just one chance to feather the air with an arabesque of yellow or red, backlit and buoyant, just one chance to be held on the palm of the year, then briskly brushed away like an instant...Quickly it passed, but how well they did it, falling like that, just simply falling."

"The night is a cold, deep lake and I am lying on its bottom, surprised to be able to breathe. The bellied sail of the moon has been wafted out of sight, but thousands of starlights sparkle up there on the surface, just bright enough that I can hold up the fish of my fingers and watch them dart this way and that, hungrily feeding on the darkness."

From reading this book I am more in awe of Ted Kooser - how he can transform the littlest thing from ordinary into a subject of poetry, an item of awestruck attention, much like he says here:

"Take any old pebble, dull and dusty, just part of a road, and moisten it with spit, and all of its colors will awaken, as if you'd kissed the life back into it, as if it had been waiting for someone like you."

A fitting epigram to the book would be Kooser's declaration midway - "Who could be happier to be alive than I?" or when he says: "It is all around us, free, this wonderful life: clear jingle of tire chains, the laughter of ice that breaks under our boots. Each hour's a gift to those who take it up."
And Kooser has taken it up joyously.

This book is a treasure and one to be re-read many times.

[Therese L. Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not merely ''prose observations'' -- as labeled elsewhere -- , these beautiful short pieces are gems of Poetry as Prose (Poetry as Verse being one alternative). Each is a lovingly and skillfully hand-crafted piece of language in which Mr. Kooser presents a precise, patient observation of the concrete world, then attaches it to a memorable metaphor. Like the wheel in this book's title, each of these little masterpieces binds the spokes of our five human senses to the round rim of metaphor. A joy to read.

[Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are few poets I love more than Ted Kooser. This is a book, not of his poems per se, but his observations which went on to BECOME poems. Kooser has stressed, in A Poetry Home Repair Manual and elsewhere, the importance of of a poet recording his or her observations. So Kooser has blessed us by giving us a sample of one of his "field guides." This is really a collection of thistles, among which there are some gem lines. For instance, Kooser gives us a wonderful half page on the perfection of a stick of butter. And after you read it, he's right. There's nothing more perfect.

[Scott Sprunger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone that loves Ted Looser, good poetry, and finding out what the bones of good literature look like.

Ted has offered a glimpse into the shadows of his mind so that we might see the beauty of all things that we pass by every day without notice.

Not the formal, polished poems that we are used to seeing from this great writer, that's not the intention. Those are meant to be seen. This is incredible because we see where those poems are birthed!

[Taube · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In the baby's fist is the first thing he owns a little ball of air but soon he tires of this and grabs another, then another after that. So early in life we learn about more, and having more. In more it seems we have eternity, and for years we grasp and grasp, until one day we find that we have less. And then life goes and goes, it floats away, and at the end we find our hand is empty but for one small ball of air."

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a lovely book to keep on one's nightstand to dip into throughout the year. Arranged by month, the images--seeds of poems, bite-sized--make a nice midnight snack for any heart hungry for beautiful language.

[Jt Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most calming and soothing books I've ever read...his reflections on his space and time are, in my opinion, on par with Blaise Pascal's "Pensées". I could read this before bed every night...I just might.

[Mariah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kooser is my favorite poet. I read this book every month, year after year. It is arranged by month and I practice writing with my off hand by copying poems from the month we are currently in. I find no poet more inspiring than Ted Kooser.