The Real Life of a Poet Laureate
Ted Kooser, 65, who was recently named poet laureate of the U.S., worked in the insurance industry for 35 years.
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, May 2005
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Ted Kooser, 65, who was recently named poet laureate of the U.S., worked in the insurance industry for 35 years.
I don't know how it works for other people trying to pursue an art while working in business. For me, writing poetry was the driving force, and my employment came second.
There are two kinds of poets: The poet who wears a beret and flirts with girls in the coffeehouse, and the poet at home who does the hard work of writing. I was 20 when I got serious about writing, and my first book [of ten] came out when I was 30.
When I was a graduate student in English at the University of Nebraska, it became clear that I wasn't going to be a scholar. I was spending a lot of time hanging out with Karl Shapiro, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, instead of concentrating on teaching, and my adviser told me he wasn't going to renew my assistantship. I had to do something to support myself while I got my degree, and I saw an ad for a management-trainee job at Bankers Life Nebraska.
I didn't have business skills, but I had good communication skills. I started in 1964 by answering letters from policyholders. After a year, I trained to be a life underwriter, and later went to work for Lincoln Benefit Life as senior underwriter. When I retired in 1999, I was vice-president of public relations at Lincoln.
My goal as a poet has always been to have a broad audience. Some poets see their audience as other poets, but I aim to make my writing clear. I'm pleased when some guy shambles up to me and says, "I haven't read poetry since I was a kid, but I really liked this."
The poet laureate is named by the Librarian of Congress. The laureate gets a $35,000 stipend and a $5,000 expense account from a private endowment, not tax dollars. When I retired from the insurance business, I was making about $100,000 a year. Being named poet laureate is a very high honor -- I would have taken the job at my own expense.
If I could have made a living at poetry instead of insurance, I probably would have. But I don't think that would have been good for my poetry. If poems were worth thousands of dollars apiece, it would be a corrupting influence.
--As told to Robert Frick