The Blizzard Voices

by Ted Kooser, Tom Pohrt (Illustrator)

2007 Book Sense Poetry Top Ten selection
2007 Midwest Booksellers' Choice Award for Poetry, honoring Tom Pohrt (Illustrator)

This book is a collection of poems recording the devastation unleashed on the Great Plains by the blizzard of January 12, 1888. The Blizzard Voices is based on the actual reminiscences of the survivors as recorded in documents from the time and written reminiscences from years later. Here are the haunting voices of the men and women who were teaching school, working the land, and tending the house when the storm arrived and changed their lives forever.

Genres: Poetry, Historical Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Jace Nickolite · Rating 4 out of 5]

what i liked about this book is that it was easy to read and i didn't have to use a lot of brain power. i also liked it because it was short and didn't have many words so i could easily read it. i would definitely recommend this book to my classmate Justin because he is a slow reader and i think he would like that book. i would also recommend it to him because he is lazy and doesn't like to do a lot of school work. another reason i like this book is because it is a poem book and has lots of meaningful quotes like "how in the good lord, in his infinite mercy, let those poor little children die". the book is just an overall good book.

one thing i didn't like about this book is that so many children died because of a bad blizzard. it was so harsh to add those types of concepts into a book. it almost put me into tears reading because i felt bad for those children. what i found difficult to read from this book was those poor innocent little children dying from a blizzard. it was also hard because so many children got lost in the blizzard. the blizzard was so bad that you couldn't see your hand and the end of your arm.

the themes of the book were just about a big blizzard that happened in Nebraska and kinda around south Dakota. this book taught me many lessons like not to go out when a blizzard is happening. also that many children died during this Jurassic event that happened. these lessons are important so you or anybody doesn't die during a snow storm or a blizzard. also not to get lost in a blizzard because it is very serious and not something to mess around in. also not to let your children or anybody's children go into a big snow storm/blizzard because it is dangerous.

[Kasandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A collection of poems recording the devastation unleashed on the Great Plains by the blizzard of January 12, 1888." says the copy on the back of the book. That doesn't begin to do justice to the narratives captured within this slim volume, accompanied by poignant line drawings by Tom Pohrt. Normally, I shy away from any poetry that comes with illustration, feeling that often, unless it's a children's book, the illustration is a signal that the poetry within is not up to snuff and needs distractions, but in this case, the illustrations really do add to the intensity of the work as a whole.

This peek into history is intense and immediate. I am not sure how much of Kooser's writing is direct transcription and therefore "found poetry" and how much of it is paraphrasing, but either way, he's done his research and preserved the best bits for modern readers. Not being from the Midwest, I'd never heard of this blizzard before, but this book puts you right in the thick of it, starting with a poem with a tremendously chilling sense of foreboding and ending with a poem that is more lyrical than most of the others in the book, more "poetic", than the others, which are mostly set up as straightforward and short reminiscences (that's not to say they won't stop you in your tracks). These are haunting poems that show how nature's strength and natural disasters can quickly remind puny humans of what's important in life.

Poems are presented as "A Woman's Voice" or "A Man's Voice", so there's no real way to differentiate favorites here, but here's one from the middle of the book:

A Man's Voice:

When the wind and snowstorm struck,
our teacher dismissed the school
and told us to get for home.
My older brother and I
started out on our horse,
but the snow was so blinding
we soon were lost. We let the horse
loose, taking the blanket with us,
and walked with the wind, hoping
to find some sort of shelter.
We finally had to dig
down into a drift, wrapping
the blanket around us. Billy
died in the night. I thought he
was only asleep. At dawn,
I dug out, finding that we
were in sight of the home place.
They had to cut my feet off.


Needless to say, you do not want to be reading this in winter, nor during a blizzard. Even if you've been outside in a blizzard before, as I have in Massachusetts, you probably haven't experienced anything quite like what's described here. An awesome collection describing a piece of American history so vividly that you'll shiver. Kooser does a great job -- the work is spare, with no wasted words or images, but it throbs with anguish and lights up with hope (one poem even made me laugh).

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I was not interested in Kooser's poems; but I re-read them and liked them. While they at first did not seem "poetic", I began to see the poems like I did when I discovered Leaves of Grass by Whitman for the first time.

[Rebecca Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple book that tells so many stories! Page after page recalls a different person's memories of the Blizzard of 1888. A quick but informative read. Not a bad book to turn to if you feel like your life is lacking.

[Dave Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ted Kooser is a favorite of mine. So I started reading this with expectations of his plain spoken and beautiful/rhythmic language.

This was not. I hesitate to call it poetry.

But it IS fascinating from a historical perspective. I was unaware of this blizzard of 1888.

If anything it shows how the time has changed. We live in a time where weather events like this rarely surprise us. We generally know (and are told) that conditions exist for such an event.

But in 1888 there was no such warning. And these "voices" tell the stories of the people who went through this.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ted Kooser wrote this, published in 1986, in their own words, after much research (he shares in his intro). In these poetic voices, we can hear the sadness and actual surprise that it was such a terrible storm, after a sunny morning. "In one low draw, a windmill/thirty-five feet high was covered/clear up to the topmost blades." It's hard to imagine such a storm. If you want to know more, read 'The Children's Blizzard' by Melanie Benjamin, out this past January.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

On January 12, 1888, a sudden deadly blizzard struck the Great Plains. Gathering much historical information but still making it his own, Ted Kooser writes poems in the voices of the survivors, describing the events, memorializing those who were lost. By turns sad, uplifting, inspiring, and mournful, Kooser brings these hearty Midwesterners to life.

[William Woodhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

As abrupt, vicious, and destructive as we people can be, we do not hold a candle to Mother Nature.
The reactions of the observers and victims of the storm were remarkable in the matter-of-fact, what're-you-gonna-do?, brief way their stories were told.

[J.C. Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

With spare yet evocative language, in the plain speech of the inhabitants of Nebraska prairies, Ted Kooser tells the story of the many people who lived through the great blizzard of 1888. I think this may be one of my favorite books by him.

[Michael Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even the awfulness of the storm got boring after a bit, and the verse did not have the lyrical quality I have come to expect from Kooser. Many of the voices sounded the same. Still, there are moments and lines that stick in the mind like a tough memory.

[David J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I learned from Ted:
Blizzards are horrifying, we are
Soft in 2024, teacher have always
Been under appreciated, and in 1888 every
Horse was blind. No one
Owned a horse that could see.

Three stars for the collection, four stars for the total story told and the last included poem.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read by Ted Kooser, former US poet laureate. He researched and made poems from stories/ accounts by survivors of the Blizzard of 1888.

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! This was a very short read and I would recommend first reading "The children's blizzard" by Laskin before reading this book so you have context.

[Deirdre Fagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book many years ago during winter, in nearly one sitting, and I haven’t ever forgotten it. Brilliant, moving writing that leaves you aching.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim volume of poetry connects you to the stories of people who lived during the suprise "children's blizzard" of 1888. You can read this in 30 minutes. Recommended.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

The voices of these poems were spectacular! The introduction talks about a stage performance of this and I could easily picture it in my mind’s eye.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read. Sad and haunting.

[Jamey Boelhower · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting history lesson. The poems are narratives of men and women who lived through the blizzard.

[Matthew Bowers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Using eyewitness accounts of those who experienced the Children's Blizzard, these poems give spare, emotionally rich voice to the survivors.

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic yet beautiful and still haunting. Kooser surprises me again with a new form of poetry in these invented oral histories based on his research of an actual event.

[Matt Suder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ted is a state treasure! Read more poetry!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge Kooser fan and this slender volume did not disappoint. I've always been interested in the Children's Blizzard as well.

[Jami Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read about the Nebraska blizzard of 1888 and the perspectives of people who lived through it

[Gabbie Brandt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get where this collection was coming from, and a few of the poems were striking, but it was overwhelmingly repetitive and there seemed to be no purpose. Would not recommend.

[Kaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is about a 20 minute read of poems all about the USA's worst blizzard ever in 1888. It made me really scared of blizzards and scared for all the people and ANIMALS that get caught in them. The blizzard happened in January and there were still snow drifts in June. Corpses getting found throughout the year. Horses had their eyes frozen. Pigs stacked up on each other in a frenzy - the ones at the bottom were smothered, the ones at the top froze. Lots of people had to have arms, legs, fingers and toes removed. The blizzard is aka the Schoolchildren's Blizzard cuz it happened in the middle of the day when kids were at school and a lot of kids got stuck in the schoolhouse. Some made it, others didn't. One guy got found frozen with his two horses. AWWWW! I read these poems really fast because the animal stuff is really sad. My favorite part was the poem where, like weeks after the blizzard, these kids are walking down the road and they see movement in a snow drift and a turkey is pecking its way out! It survived all that time in its little makeshift igloo, feeding on soggy grass! Who would be worse to get snowed in during a blizzard with: Miranda July or Daniel Johnston?

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slim volume of "poems" by Kooser, narrative monologues based on the experience of individuals during the 1888 Blizzard. AKA The Children's Blizzard, since many children were stuck in their schoolhouses for a couple of days, and a number perished from the sub zero temperatures that followed the snow.

Each poem is short, for me too short to be totally effective. And the narrators are only identifies as "A Man's Voice" or "A Woman's Voice", even though he knew who the individuals were (the poems are based on stories he has heard, and also from a book on the blizzard which includes first person accounts).

This was staged in his home area of Lincoln, NE by the Community Theatre, and I can imagine it working well on stage. But the narratives are so short, and there is no real story or time line to volume - there may be a problem there.

But I enjoy reading Kooser (fellow NE regional poet Kloefkorn more, he actually makes you think as you read, he has a density that Kooser often lacks), and you can read this slim volume in less than an hour.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully done. These poems are based on the experiences of men and women who lived through the "Schoolhouse Blizzard" of 1888 on the Great Plains. Each poem comes from a different anonymous speaker, and the collection is best read aloud. Kooser's individual voices capture the disorientation that must have come from such a storm. Here are characters in different towns and states, trapped in one blinding torrent of snow. Some are separated from each other by hundreds of miles, but they share one story. Conversely, they are sometimes separated from their own homes, outbuildings, and neighbors by a matter of feet and yards; their isolation is absolute and deadly. That paradox of individuality and solidarity, I think, is what makes these minimalist stories so effective. By itself, none of the poems is very interesting. Together, however, they build a convincing world for us.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

These monologue poems about the terrible 1888 blizzard that swept across the Great Plains end too soon. The book opens with a poem titled "A Woman's Voice" in size 14 or 16 font, then alternates to "A Man's Voice." All the poems in the book have those two titles, although it is clear the monologues are being delivered from different people. There are 18 Woman poems and 18 Man poems, so Kooser is careful to give a balanced perspective, or was he having some fun, calling attention to the year in which this natural disaster happened?

I enjoyed these poems; Kooser's skill as a poet already shows in this 1986 collection. My main complaint is that the text is too large, and some of the poems are spread across two pages, when the full poem could have easily fit on one page.

The illustrations by Tom Pohrt complement Kooser's poetry nicely.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is part narrative, part poetry. The voices are memories from the great blizzard of 1888. Kooser says he grew up hearing his elderly relatives recount their memories of this blizzard, and he drew from those and accounts published at the time to distill down some of the essential images. One of the most vivid images for me was how a cow's tail froze sideways. And towards the end of the book there is brief vignette about a turkey who had been buried for weeks in the ice, yet survived by eating the grasses nearby with only it's head poking up.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting subject, but merely adequately handled (which pretty much sums up my opinion of any of Kooser's work). Kooser's style shoots for plainspoken but veers into unmemorable. There are a few striking moments in here, but the presentation of the book (which has no page numbers and features a few dozen poems all titled either "A Man's Voice:" or "A Woman's Voice") makes it difficult to identify or describe them without giving them away. (Spoiler: the best moment occurs the first time we are confronted with amputation as a stark reality of bitter, bitter cold.)