The Necktie

Ted Kooser

(1939 - )

The Necktie

His hands fluttered like birds,

Each with a fancy silk ribbon

To weave into their nest,

As he stood at his mirror

Dressing for work, waving hello

To himself with both hands.

The poet reads this brief poem (audio).

Putting on a necktie each morning may not be the custom any more. For many, myself included, it was a morning ritual I did almost unconsciously. It was a habit I started early in life ~ the highschool I attended required us to wear neckties. That was in the 60s.

Kooser’s take on it is playful and it humanizes something that was at risk of being robotic or simply overlooked. That is one of Kooser’s gifts - using a common object or experience as the jumping off point for a comment on the human experience. Earlier this month (April 2) we read a poem of his about a New Cap. Here it is a Necktie - “Waving hello to himself with both hands.” Perfect.

With "The Necktie" we conclude Poetry Month 2026. We hope you enjoyed the poems. My thanks to my colleagues in this work - Steph Clay and Kathrina Dubnicek. Going forward you will receive one poem a month as we prepare for Poetry Month 2027.

Theodore J. Kooser is an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2005. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poets laureate selected from the Great Plains, and is known for his conversational style of poetry.