Ted Kooser is a two-time US Poet Laureate and the author of numerous poetry collections, including Delights & Shadows, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Splitting an Order; Kindest Regards; and Cotton Candy (2022). As Poet Laureate he created “American Life in Poetry,” a free weekly column for newspapers, featuring a poem by a contemporary American writer. Born in Ames, Iowa, Kooser is a former vice president of Lincoln Benefit Life, where he worked as an insurance representative for many years. He is Presidential Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Photograph by Matt Valentine.

Changing Drivers

by Ted Kooser

Their nondescript, late-model car
is pulled off on the windy shoulder,
its doors flung wide, and the driver
gets out, gripping the roof with a hand
and lifting himself just as the woman
gets out on her side, both of them stiff,
both kneading the smalls of their backs,
rolling their heads on their necks,
squinting into the midday sun.

People on couch
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