Ted Kooser

He transforms ordinary life into the extraordinary via his poetry. He is Ted Kooser, the United States 13th Poet Laureate, and the subject of a new NET Television special, “Ted Kooser’s Poetic World,” In addition to reading selections of his work, Kooser takes viewers on a thoughtful and philosophical journey as he talks about his poetry, how he writes it and his ambitious goal of making poetry an everyday experience for us all. The program also follows Kooser to the office of the Poet Laureate of the United States in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Named the US 13th Poet Laureate in 2004, the Garland, Neb., resident is the author of 10 collections of poetry, including “Delights & Shadows,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005. In a segment taped last April at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, the program also features Kooser and five other Nebraska poets, including Nebraska State Poet Bill Kloefkorn of Lincoln; and local poets Mikah Tacha of Bertrand; Mary Strong Jackson of Scottsbluff; Lyn DeNaeyer-Messersmith of Cherry County; and Dominique Garay of Lincoln. “Ted Kooser’s Poetic World,” underwritten in part by the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Center for the Book and the Nebraska Library Commission, is a production of NET Television. Annie Mumgaard is producer/director.