Being
a Person
Be a person here. Stand by the river, invoke
Let any season that wants to come here make its own
call. After that sound goes away, wait.
'You don't have to
prove anything,' my mother said.
'Just be ready
for what God sends.'
Wow. Stafford was born in Kansas, and received his BA from the University of Kansas in 1937.
He was a pacifist as well as a poet. When drafted in 1942, he declared himself a conscientious objector, and performed alternative service in forestry and soil conservation (for $2.50 a month!) from 1942 until 1946, in Arkansas, California and Illinois. While in California, he met and married Dorothy Hope Franz, and they had four children, including one child who died, two artists, and the poet and essayist Kim Stafford.
He received his MA from the University of Kansas in 1947. His Masters' thesis, the prose memoir Down In My Heart: Peace Witness in Wartime, was published in 1948.
William Stafford was appointed 20th Century Consultant to the Library of Congress in 1970, a position now known as Poet Laureate. He taught, during his lifetime, at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, Manchester College in Indiana, San Jose State, California, then returned to Lewis and Clark.
Not only do I wish I had written this poem, but his dedication to his craft inspires me to work harder on my own.
A slow bubble rises through the
earth
and begins to include sky, stars,
all space,
even the outracing, expanding
thought.
Come back and hear the little sound
again.
Suddenly this dream you are having
matches
everyone's dream, and the result is
the world.
If a different call came there
wouldn't be any
world, or you, or the river, or the
owls calling.
How you stand here is important. How
you
listen for the next things to
happen. How you breathe.
- William Stafford
You can see why I wish I had written this. Sigh. Rosemary is a bit under the weather, today, my friends, so I am bringing this poet to you, who wrote so wonderfully (and prolifically) during his lifetime. Stafford lived from 1914 until 1993, but he got a bit of a late start as a published poet. He was 46 years old when his first major collection of poetry was published. Traveling Through the Dark (whose title poem is one of his best-known) won the 1963 National Book Award for Poetry. Not a bad start! During his lifetime, his body of work totaled some 22,000 poems.
Stafford observed a quiet daily routine of writing. His work focused on the ordinary events of daily life. He died of a heart attack on August 28, 1993, having just written the lines:
prove anything,' my mother said.
'Just be ready
for what God sends.'
Wow. Stafford was born in Kansas, and received his BA from the University of Kansas in 1937.
He was a pacifist as well as a poet. When drafted in 1942, he declared himself a conscientious objector, and performed alternative service in forestry and soil conservation (for $2.50 a month!) from 1942 until 1946, in Arkansas, California and Illinois. While in California, he met and married Dorothy Hope Franz, and they had four children, including one child who died, two artists, and the poet and essayist Kim Stafford.
He received his MA from the University of Kansas in 1947. His Masters' thesis, the prose memoir Down In My Heart: Peace Witness in Wartime, was published in 1948.
William Stafford was appointed 20th Century Consultant to the Library of Congress in 1970, a position now known as Poet Laureate. He taught, during his lifetime, at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, Manchester College in Indiana, San Jose State, California, then returned to Lewis and Clark.
Not only do I wish I had written this poem, but his dedication to his craft inspires me to work harder on my own.
Feel better, Rosemary! For any errors or oversights in my presentation of this material, I humbly apologize.
source: Wikipedia
Poems and photos used in ‘I Wish I’d Written This’ remain the property of the copyright holders
