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.

Mirroring Windows

by Ted Kooser

Not walking hand in hand with her pretty companion,
but the two touching fingertips, or nearly touching,

since the tall, flashing curtains of glass that they pass
keep them a breath’s thickness apart. And at each brief


course of brick between the shop windows, the one on
the left places a finger into a smooth trough of mortar
People on couch
To continue reading please sign in.
Join for free
Already a reader? Sign In