Editing Ted Kooser (section)

=== Midwest Poetry Renaissance ===
Ted Kooser was part of the Midwest Poetry Renaissance in the 1960s and 1970s. The Midwest Poetry Renaissance drew on elements of [[Rural America]] through a five-state swath of the [[Great Plains]] region. Poets of the Midwest were respected among artists throughout the country due to being informed of larger societal forces, such as the distrust of a media-driven culture.<ref name=":6" />

More small presses opened up in that time, and Midwestern poets began publishing more work. [[Warren Woessner]] regards the catalyst of the MPR to be the anthology [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8531500-heartland Heartland] in 1967. The movement began to develop after that point, along with the works of Ted and other poets such as [[Victor Contoski]], Mak Vinz, David Steinglass, Gary Gildner, James Hazard, [[Greg Kuzma]], Judith Minty, and Kathy Weigner (as well as many others) who exemplified the rural subject matter and conversational tone. Most of the poets were in their twenties or early thirties and published their first books.

Ted was in his late twenties and thirties during the decade the Midwest Poetry Renaissance occurred. He published his first book through the [[University of Nebraska Press]] at age 30, titled "[https://www.amazon.com/OFFICIAL-ENTRY-BLANK-Ted-Kooser/dp/B00D37ZWP0 Official Entry Blank]." Ted's first full-length book was already out of print by the early 1970s, at which time he became more of a [[small press]] poet like many other poets in the Midwest. Ted continued to receive publication of individual poems within anthologies and published several more books in small presses. He also began to edit ''The New Salt Creek Reader'', which had six anthologies by 1974.

According to Warren Woessner, a poet during the Midwest Poetry Renaissance, the movement ended in 1975 with the publication of Heartland II.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Woessner|first=Warren|year=2005|title=Let Us Now Praise Rusty Tractors – Ted Kooser and the Midwest Poetry Renaissance|url=http://libmetafind1a.unl.edu:50081/ebsco-e-b/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=941899fa-ab09-4519-9078-444185b399d9%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=113|journal=Midwest Quarterly|volume=6|page=5}}</ref>