Publisher's Comments:
Two voices of the American landscape create a remarkable suite of lyrics. For years Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser exchanged letters and poems, then Kooser was diagnosed with cancer. "Ted's poetry became overwhelmingly vivid, " Harrison recalls. "Then we decided to correspond in short poems, because that was the essence of what we wanted to say to each other." Braided Creek contains more than 300 poems exchanged in this longstanding correspondence. Wise, wry, and penetrating, the poems touch upon numerous subjects, from the natural world to the nature of time. Harrison and Kooser decided to remain silent over who wrote which poem, allowing their voices, ideas, and images to swirl and merge into this remarkable suite of lyrics. Each time I go outside the world is different. This has happened all my life. The moon put her hand over my mouth and told me to shut up and watch. A nephew rubs the sore feet of his aunt, and the rope that lifts us all toward grace creaks on the pulley. Under the storyteller's hat are many heads, all troubled.
