Windflower Home Almanac of Poetry

Ted Kooser, U.S. poet laureate (2004–2006) and winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, is a retired presidential professor of English at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is the author of dozens of books, including Cotton Candy (Nebraska, 2022); Kindest Regards: Poems, Selected and New; Red Stilts; Splitting an Order; and Delights and Shadows.

"If the Great Plains could speak, these poems would constitute its definitive and forceful utterance."-Larry D. Thomas, Roundup Magazine

• Editor's NoteMaking Applesauce by Kathy ManganLoneliness by L. L. ZeigerSunrise by Victor ContoskiOne January by ​Robert WallaceJellied Moose Nose by Don Welch Winter Storm by Sonya DormanJanuary by Joan ColbyTuco Tuco by lyn lifshinPotatoes by Gerald Costanzo Crabtree’s Woman by Dave EtterUntitled by Theodore EnslinCrocus by Adelaide Blomfield Bloodroot by Joan Colby Looking at the Moon by Rachelle Benveniste Measuring the Tree by Gerald Costanzo Widow by Al MasarikMidcontinent by Mark VinzVermillion South Dakota by James MinorStar of Kodiak by Gary HolthausThe Furniture-Maker by Michael WatersWinter in Fairbanks by Franz DouskeyUntitled by Charles LevendoskyTo the Tiger Growing Old in the Toledo Zoo by Richard BehmNight Rise by Susan AstorFarmlore by Patricia HenleyLiving with the Weather by Pamela MillerSong of Snow by David SteingassHard Way to Learn by James HearstBaling Wire by Don WelchSmall Dark Song by Philip DaceyPotatoes by Kathryn StriplingPicking Rock by Philip DaceyThe Stinkhorn by Anthony SobinMint by Roger PfingstonThe Crows by Sonya DormanFull Moon by William KloefkornBlackbirds by Linda HasselstromTo See Such Sport by Marjorie HawksworthThe Round Moon by Wendy BishopNo Nightingales, No Nymphs by James HearstUrsa Major by Robert WrigleyOver There by Douglas WorthArtichoke by Joseph HutchisonNeighbors by David Allan EvansAnother April by Virginia ElsonConclusions by Gary C. BushaLessons by Bruce BennettApril by Jonathan HoldenPhoto of a Retired Farmer, Big Bend, Wisconsin by Robert McRobertsSolemn Music by Leonard NathanEquinox by Adelaide BlomfieldDriving through Fog by Michael WatersTrout by Ronald WallacePruning by Ruth Moon KempherPrelude by Llewellyn McKernanApril by Barbara WinderPlains Song by Warren WoessnerPoetry in a BottleDawn at the Rainbow Hill Ranch in Phoenix, Oregon by Joseph HutchisonCentipede, Millipede by Bruce BergerHerbal Teas by Ramona WeeksUntitled by Fred LinkEarly Peas by Roy ScheeleSnubbing Posts by William StaffordNight Soil by Robert PetersWashday Receet by Elizabeth BansetWild Sarsaparilla by Susan HauserToo Many Defeats Dull the Spirit by James HearstSage & Disciple by Samuel GreenPraying Mantis by Raymond RoseliepSome Time Walking by William StaffordShelling the Kentucky Wonder by Howard KayeFlowering Crab by Roy ScheeleSomewhere Along the Way by Henry TaylorLa Jolla Hills by Charles FishmanRumors of a Summer Vacation by Steven OsterlundLine Storm by Mark VinzClimbing Prairie Rose by Joel CoxDecoration Day by Ted KooserBrace and Bit by Phil HeyThe Dead by Charles VanderseeMagpie by Linda HoganBarbed Wire by Henry TaylorHen by Jean BalderstonCombine by Rodney TorresonCicadas by H. A. MaxsonTo a Garden Companion by Phyllis TickleOne Way to Find Asparagus by Jean QueneauBurning a Horse by Henry Taylor The Morning-Glory by Raymond RoseliepThis Walking Stick by Harold WittHow to Bake Bread by Elizabeth BansetDuty Call by Leonard NathanSmall Farm by Sonya DormanThe Welcome Mat by Roy ScheeleBaltimore Oriole by Raymond RoseliepWildflowers by Charles FishmanA Woman at Her Wheel by Nancy PetersBat by Arthur SmithBlackberries Live Here by Judith Root Fisherman by Linda HoganSunday Music by Carol BergeZucchini by Ruth MooseCanning by Marc SelvaggioCure for a Sty in Your Own or Your Brother’s Eye by Paul ForemanCrepescule by Peter SharpeUntitled by Glenna LuscheiAnother August Harvest by Mordecai MarcusThe Last of August by Peter SharpeRed Winged Blackbird by Al MasarikUntitled by Linda AllardtMid-Plains Tornado by Linda BierdsSand Dial by Virginia ElsonKitchen Sink by Kathryn StriplingThe Great Blue Heron by Julia OlderCucumbers by Ronald WallaceBall Lightning by Michael WatersHill Farmer by Karl PattenThe Birds by L. L. ZeigerIn the Field Forever by Robert WallaceRaspberry Moon by Susan HauserSunset by David Allan EvansThe Creature Whose Substance Is Bliss Is Everywhere at Home by H. A. MaxsonAugust by Roy ScheeleBirdfoot’s Grampa by Joe BruchacFrom This Delapidated Barn by Rodney TorresonDiscovered by Shirley BuettnerAugust by Richard SheltonTrailing the Lost Road by Michael TarachowFor Charlotte at Eighty-Nine by Richard SheltonEverything Keeps Me Here, the Swallow by Nancy McCleerySnake by Joe NaporaIn September by Elizabeth Searle LambTo a Migrating Wren by Peter SharpeLupine by Sheila NickersonFreeway Blackberries by Al MasarikGreat Bear by Robert HedinWild Rice Moon by Susan HauserAfter the First Heavy Frost by Joe BruchacIn Silence and Solitude by Thomas McGrathGrasshopper Leg by Ron OvertonOld Farm in Northern Michigan by Gary GildnerTwo Clouds by Dan GerberBargain by Stephen LewandowskiFlower Garden Quilt: 1960 by Denise LowThe Season Between by Anita Skeen and Carol BarrettApple Harvest along the Missouri by J. V. BrummelsOctober by Ronald WallaceDandelion by Hortense Roberta RobertsFrost by Carole OlesIndian Corn by Mark VinzAutumn Songs by Mark VinzWhite Creek by Anita SkeenAbsolute Morality by Ken PoynerHarvest by Jeff Daniel Marion Stopping over in Michigan by Steve LewandowskiAlmanacs by Frank ShortLowing by Margaret IngrahamPheasant Season Opens: West of Shepherd by Eric TorgersenThief in the Night by Jean DuceyNovember Song by Mark VinzAfter Labor Day by Carolyn StoloffA Charm for Your Doorstep by Thomas ReiterFall in the Air by Tom MontagNovember by Jonathan HoldenFacts by James Hearst The Story of Lava by David Allan EvansThe Bull Rider’s Advice by David Allan EvansRed River Blues by Mark VinzIn Early Autumn by Thomas McGrathInner Space by Theodore WeissHow the Fox Got Away by Roy ScheeleWinter Solstice by Donald LeveringAlive and Well by James HearstGoing Through Seed Catalogues in December by Joe BruchacMaple by Douglas WorthSeeing Through by David ClewellThe White Cows by Joyce OdamStealing the Christmas Greens by Brendan GalvinWindow by Nancy PetersDecember Song by John JudsonDecember: American Bottoms Farm by Robert WrigleyHunting Season Ended Yesterday by Mary WoodA Coal Fire in Winter by Thomas McGrathWintering Over by Julia OlderAcknowledgments