Weather Poetry

with Ted Kooser's poetry postcards

Hello, Poetry Friend

Last winter, when I was in a poem-writing funk, I spent the month reading Ted Kooser’s Winter Morning Walks: one hundred postcards to Jim Harrison. He wrote it following a bout with cancer, when he was taking two-mile walks early each day because his oncologist had warned him away from the sun. Kooser was in a poem-writing drought of his own until he undertook this activity. Something about walking jostled loose poetry. He wrote his poems out on postcards and sent them to his friend and fellow poet, Jim Harrison.

Each brief poem is titled with the date and a one-line weather report. You can read the one titled “january 29” (my birthday!) over at meganwillome.com, where I do a deeper dive on Kooser’s poem.

When you feel stuck, poem-wise, let weather lead. Follow Kooser’s example. Take a walk and record the temperature when you begin. As you walk compose a brief description of the weather — just a phrase. Let that begin you.

Poetry Journal

• Read Ted Kooser’s weather poem, “january 29.” Or listen to me read it at Soundcloud.

• Take a winter morning walk. Note the weather. How does today feel as compared to yesterday? Pay attention to what is around you. Details matter!

• Before you write your own weather poem, read Kooser’s poem again, aloud (if you didn’t the first time).

• Write your own weather poem, one short enough to fit on a postcard. If you want to send me a postcard of your, email me and I’ll send you my address. There’s no mail like poetry mail!

Take care, Megan