Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate of the United States (2004-2006) and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry (2005) gave a reading on a recent Friday evening at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, Minnesota.

I considered staying home and going to bed early. But I didn’t. I drove for 53 minutes and arrived in time to eat a lot of cheese and crackers before the reading began.

I am ashamed to have considered staying home.

Ted Kooser read several poems that rang with intention, poetry wrought with keen observation and crafted with heart and chisel. After each poem, little gasps—or whooshes—of surprise and delight escaped from reverent attendees. 

As well as reading, Mr. Kooser spoke about how detail is essential to a poem and how it is the unexpected detail that sets a poem apart.

He talked about associative thinking, a gift to the mind.

Listening to his words, I was an English major again.

At the book signing, I stood in front of him and told him my name. Jane. The regular one, I said. Four letters.

Seated, he leaned forward. He spoke. Maybe I hadn’t been clear about my name?

“Do you know the TV commercial . . .,” he began.

I panicked. How could I have a conversation about a commercial?

“It’s about . . .”

About what? Halitosis? Nail fungus?

Shaking his head, he said, “It doesn’t matter what it’s about. Blythe Danner is in it. I saw you in the audience and thought that you looked like Blythe Danner.”

Ted Kooser thinks that I look like Blythe Danner of screen and stage? (I do have fluffy hair.) Ted Kooser noticed me?

Me?

J-a-n-e? 

I didn’t read the inscription in the book until I was settled in the car. There it was. For Jane.

A King of Poetry had written For Jane, who may or may not look like Blythe Danner to anyone else.

Even if Blythe Danner’s name had never been spoken, it was a poetic evening. I floated home, an English major transported.