Ted Kooser may not have the flashy star appeal of a Madonna but he is the nation's poet laureate. On Monday he won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and then he was appointed to a second one-year term as poet laureate. They say that his dedication and initiatives are bringing poetry to new audiences. Born in Nebraska, he is known as a meticulous craftsman and a lyric voice for rural life. Here is an outtake from one of his poems. (By Scott Rose)

A Winter Morning
A farmhouse window far back from the highway
speaks to the darkness in a small, sure voice.
Against this stillness, only a kettle's whisper,
and against the starry cold, one small blue ring of flame.