William Stafford
William Stafford
Prolific American poet and 1970 U.S. Poet Laureate who won the National Book Award for Traveling Through the Dark. His numerous other works include In the Clock of Reason, Brother Wind, Passwords, and Wyoming Circuit.
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth17 January 1914
CountryUnited States of America
corner faint interest poetry prepared side straight worse
Poetry is the kind of thing you have to see from the corner of your eye. You can be too well prepared for poetry. A conscientious interest in it is worse than no interest at all. . . . It's like a very faint star. If you look straight at it you can't see it, but if you look a little to one side it is there.
million
One way to find your place is likethe rain, a million requestsfor lodging, one that wins, findsyour cheek: you find your home.
leave room sound
Leave sound in an emptyhouse in its own room there. . . .
happens legends twice
So, the world happens twice --once what we see it as;second it legends itselfdeep, the way it is.
fire time
And sometimes when they look in the fire they see time going on and someone alone, but they don't say anything.
fire time
And sometimes when they look in the firethey see time going on and someone alone,but they don't say anything.
ocean roll wash
The ocean and I have many pebblesTo find and wash off and roll into shape.
face life slant takes
They tell how it was, and how timecame along, and how it happenedagain and again. They tellthe slant life takes when it turnsand slashes your face as a friend.
deep gutter head heard pours silence turn wide
. . . You were aimed from birth:you will never be alone. Rainwill come, a gutter filled, an Amazon,long aisles -- you never heard so deep a sound,moss on rock, and years. You turn your head --that's what the silence meant: you're not alone. The whole wide world pours down.
breathing bring gift respect
Will you ever bring a better gift for the worldthan the breathing respect that you carrywherever you go right now?
current exactly hold miles river silent stillness turn
You and I can turn and lookat the silent river and wait. We knowthe current is there, hidden; and thereare comings and goings from miles awaythat hold the stillness exactly before us.What the river says, that is what I say.
sun
Well, it was yesterday. And the sun came, Why It came.
sun
Well, it was yesterday. And the sun came,WhyIt came.
anyone greater turn
What can anyone give you greater than now,starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?