Lights on a Ground of Darkness

Like the yellow, pink, and blue irises that had been transplanted from house to house over the years, the stories of poet Ted Koosers family had been handed down until, as his mother lay ill and dying, he felt an urgency to write them down. With a poets eye for detail, Kooser captures the beauty of the landscape and the vibrancy of his mothers Iowa family, the Mosers, in precise, evocative language. The center of the familys love is Koosers uncle, Elvy, a victim of cerebral palsy. Elvys joys are fishing, playing pinochle, and drinking soda from the ice chest at his fathers roadside Standard Oil station. Koosers grandparents, their kin, and the activities and pleasures of this extended family spin out and around the armature of Elvys blessed life. Kooser has said that writing this book was the most important work he has ever undertaken because it was his attempt to keep these beloved people alive against the relentless erosion of time.