Valentines

For Valentine’s Day 1986, Ted Kooser wrote “Pocket Poem” and sent the tender, thoughtful composition to fifty women friends, starting an annual tradition that would persist for the next twenty-one years. Printed on postcards, the poems were mailed to a list of recipients that eventually grew to more than 2,500 women all over the United States. Valentines collects Kooser’s twenty-two years of Valentine’s Day poems, complemented with illustrations by Robert Hanna and a new poem appearing for the first time.  Kooser’s valentine poems encompass all the facets of the holiday: the traditional hearts and candy, the brilliance and purity of love, the quiet beauty of friendship, and the bittersweetness of longing. Some of the poems use the word valentine, others do not, but there is never any doubt as to the purpose of Kooser’s creations.

“I am a bit stunned. I just found out that these valentines, addressed to me, all these years, are in fact part of a vast network of hearts, laced together by one man’s words, ‘a starburst compass pointing in all directions,’ an indescribable bon-bon-mot served every February 14th, now a complete feast, between these covers. What a gift.”—Debra Winger, “Each poem is a unique snapshot of love. The poet says it best himself: ‘all my life, I have wanted nothing so much as the love of women.’”—Publishers Weekly, “Because Kooser is a master of such unpretentious scene-painting, these are poems of rich, Wordsworthian common feeling. . . . They’ve nearly all appeared in Kooser’s previous collections, but especially as accompanied by Robert Hanna’s drawings . . . they’ve never seemed more like godsends—or valentines!”—Booklist, “The writing in this book is classic Kooser: simple images, down-to-earth language, insight, and uncommonly good sense, all of which combine to produce memorable, resonant endings. . . . The artwork, like the verse, is inviting, warm, and unpretentious.”—Elizabeth Lund, Christian Science Monitor, “Over 22 years, Kooser has discovered a startling variety of ways to invert and enliven the vocabulary of romance, finding tender implications in even the mustiest Valentine’s symbols. . . . When it comes to his beloved(s), Kooser has generous eyes, offering always to keep her young. . . . Kooser’s poems do build a frisson, making the most of small moments of intimacy.”—Emily Nussbaum, New York Times Book Review

Ted Kooser, Presidential Professor of the University of Nebraska, is former U.S. poet laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. In addition to his many volumes of poetry, he is the author of The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets and coauthor (with Steve Cox) of Writing Brave and Free: Encouraging Words for People Who Want to Start Writing, both available in Bison Books editions. Robert Hanna is a retired architect who spends his time painting, illustrating, and teaching art workshops throughout the Great Plains region.