There has been no criticism written on "The Constellation Orion" and very little written on Kooser in general apart from reviews for book-length collections of poetry. Critic and poet Dana Gioia has written the most sustained piece of criticism on Kooser's career in his collection of essays, Can Poetry Matter?. In "The Anonymity of the Regional Poet," Gioia argues that Kooser is a popular poet because he writes for a nonliterary audience in accessible language, and deals with subjects from everyday life, albeit everyday life in the Midwest. Claiming that Kooser has not received much critical attention because his poetry "poses none of the verbal problems critical methodologies have been so skillfully designed to unravel," Gioia offers a paradox: "the simpler poetry is, the more difficult it becomes for a critic to discuss intelligently." For Kooser, however, it has not been a matter of whether or...