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The famed radio host, author, and critic Garrison Keillor, known for his feel-good anecdotes and humorous food-for-thought, has recently delivered “Good Poems” to bookstands. The collection is just that – an all-embracing compilation of straightforward, graceful poems, some of which he will be reading next Tuesday at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley.  

“Good Poems” is a collection of the poetry he reads on morning National Public Radio show “The Writer’s Almanac” providing listeners more than sugar with their coffee. The markedly honest poems discuss topics like lovers, failure, music and beasts. The story lines range from the feeling you get after watching a movie to, just pages later, “Master Works of Ming” which describes a woman who fills bowls with rice. Keillor has selected and arranged the poems to provide solace, invoke laughter and force the reader to pause for reflection. 

Being a native of Minnesota, Keillor began careers in his home state both in radio and writing. He has always written short stories, many of which he began sending to “The New Yorker” in the 1960s and anxiously waited for editors to accept or decline them. In 1969 Keillor began to work for Minnesota Public Radio. In 1974, he began his own live variety radio show “Prairie Home Companion.” By 1980, the show had gained national success but was brought to an end seven years later when it became too tiring for Keillor to continue. The popular radio show host soon regretted this decision and resumed the show in 1989. Again, it was broadcast from its original location, the World Theater in St. Paul, Minn.  

Keillor is an author of more then 10 books, including “Lake Wobegon Summer 1956” and “Wobegon Boy.” Many of his works focus on childhood and the culture of the American Midwest. He has also authored several children’s books.  

“I look on writing as simply something I do every day,” explained Keillor, “as some people attend Mass and others tend gardens, so I sit down and write. I’d like to be a man of letters, capable of fiction, poetry, drama and criticism, and I have a long way to go.” 

Not only can humor be found in his fictional anecdotes, but he reveals it within his own life. He speaks of his job hunt right out of college when he lived in a boarding house that he later discovered was a halfway house. 

“The residents sat in the dayroom, stunned by Thorazine, and jabbered,” reminisced Keillor, “I sat and recorded some of their thoughts, imagining that I’d write a story about this. One man claimed to have known Dorothy Parker. I listened to him talk about Dotty for hours, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not, and finally decided I didn’t care.” 

Now, years later, his work as a radio host and writer are so well-known and enjoyed that he and his show have become a fixture in many people’s lives. 

“Every Arbor Day I get together with some of my fellow archetypes – Donald Trump and Sally Ride and Willard Scoot and Martha Stewart – and we talk about what it’s like. Frankly, it’s OK. It’s not a dignified life, but we seem to serve a useful function as landmarks, like the Chrysler Building or the pier at Santa Monica.