In her loving Foreword to this expanded anniversary edition, Naomi
Shihab Nye writes "Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry is one of
the dearest, most appealing books ever published. These poems are tiny
delicious American haiku affectionately exchanged between two friends...
This slim volume acts as a palate-cleanser, a spirit-booster, a little
rocket-ship of wonders."
While Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison were an unlikely pair to become
friends, they shared an intimate correspondence of handwritten letters
that often included new poems. After Kooser was diagnosed with cancer,
Harrison sensed his friend's poetry becoming "overwhelmingly vivid," and
their friendship deepened through the exchange of brief poems that
captured "the essence of what [they] wanted to say to each other."
After hundreds of poems were sent back and forth through the mail, they
found this volume hidden within the stacks of envelopes and postcards.
In her loving Foreword to this expanded anniversary edition, Naomi
Shihab Nye writes "Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry is one of
the dearest, most appealing books ever published. These poems are tiny
delicious American haiku affectionately exchanged between two friends...
This slim volume acts as a palate-cleanser, a spirit-booster, a little
rocket-ship of wonders."
Wise, wry, and penetrating, these epigrammatic, aphoristic poems explore
love and friendship, pausing to celebrate the natural world, aging,
everyday things and scenes, and poetry itself. This expanded edition
includes a dozen new poems, and when asked why none of the poems have
attributions, one of the co-authors replied, "This book is an assertion
in favor of poetry and against credentials."
