Tad Richards on Ted Kooser

One sees relatively little thematic or stylistic development in Kooser's work over time: the subject matter of family and place, the observation of nature and individuals is always at the heart of it, as is the sense that there are mysteries beyond our grasp, but perhaps they're not so far beyond our grasp, if we take the time to contemplate them. In the title poem from his collection Flying at Night, he notes and draws a connection, from the vantage point of an airplane, between a dying galaxy and a farmer, "feeling the chill of that distant death," turning on a light in his yard.