William Stafford Poems (31 Poems)
Bess (William Stafford Poems)
Ours are the streets where Bess first met hercancer. She went to work every day past thesecure houses. At her job in the libraryshe arranged better and better flowers, and whenstudents asked for books her hand went outto help. In … Continue reading
Accountability (William Stafford Poems)
Cold nights outside the taverns in Wyomingpickups and big semis lounge idling, letting theirhaunches twitch now and then in gusts of powder snow,their owners inside for hours, forgetting as wellas they can the miles, the circling plains, the still townthat … Continue reading
Humanities Lecture (William Stafford Poems)
Aristotle was a little man witheyes like a lizard, and he found a streakdown the midst of things, a smooth place for his feetmuch more important than the carved handleson the coffins of the great. He said you should put … Continue reading
After Arguing Against The Contention That Art Must Come From Discontent (William Stafford Poems)
Whispering to each handhold, “I’ll be back,”I go up the cliff in the dark. One placeI loosen a rock and listen a long timetill it hits, faint in the gulf, but the rushof the torrent almost drowns it out, and … Continue reading
An Oregon Message (William Stafford Poems)
When we first moved here, pulledthe trees in around us, curledour backs to the wind, no onehad ever hit the moon-no one.Now our trees are safer than the stars,and only other people’s neglectis our precious and abiding shell,pierced by meteors, … Continue reading
Bi-Focal (William Stafford Poems)
Sometimes up out of this landa legend begins to move.Is it a coming nearof something under love? Love is of the earth only,the surface, a map of roadsleading wherever go milesor little bushes nod. Not so the legend under,fixed, inexorable,deep … Continue reading
In The Deep Channel (William Stafford Poems)
Setting a trotline after sundownif we went far enough away in the nightsometimes up out of deep waterwould come a secret-headed channel cat, Eyes that were still eyes in the rush of darkness,flowing feelers noncommittal and black,and hidden in the … Continue reading
At The Bomb Testing Site (William Stafford Poems)
At noon in the desert a panting lizardwaited for history, its elbows tense,watching the curve of a particular roadas if something might happen. It was looking at something farther offthan people could see, an important sceneacted in stone for little … Continue reading
Hay-Cutters (William Stafford Poems)
Time tells them. They go along touchingthe grass, the feathery ends. When it feelsjust so, they start the mowing machine,leaving the land its long windrows,and air strokes the leaves dry. Sometimes you begin to push; you want tohurry the sun, … Continue reading
At The Un-National Monument Along The Canadian Border (William Stafford Poems)
This is the field where the battle did not happen,where the unknown soldier did not die.This is the field where grass joined hands,where no monument stands,and the only heroic thing is the sky. Birds fly here without any sound,unfolding their … Continue reading
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