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
art father lick
Our Father Who art in Heavencan lick their Father Who art in Heaven.
artist long assuming
Keep a journal, and don't assume that your work has to accomplish anything worthy: artists and peace-workers are in it for the long haul, and not to be judged by immediate results.
artist able may
Others may be able to accept standards from another, but an artist is a person who decides.
art teaching decision
I have a feeling that art is something you do for yourself, and that any time you turn your decisions over to someone else you're postponing at best, your own development. The atmosphere of the workshop should be that of trying out one's own work and accepting the signals from others but not accepting the dictation of others because that is a violation of the spirit of art. Art can't be done by somebody else, it has got to be done by the artist.
Even the upper end of the riverbelieves in the ocean.
caught face gone happy midst pass souls watch
You happy beings, watch every face for thoseyou pass caught in the midst of lifeby some horror, their souls gone dim, cursedor unlucky, exiled under a stone.
caught cursed face gone happy life midst pass souls watch
You happy beings, watch every face for those you pass caught in the midst of life by some horror, their souls gone dim, cursed or unlucky, exiled under a stone.
anyone greater turn
What can anyone give you greater than now,starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?
curve desert elbows might noon particular
At noon in the desert a panting lizardwaited for history, its elbows tense,watching the curve of a particular roadas if something might happen.
curve desert elbows lizard might noon particular road waited watching
At noon in the desert a panting lizard waited for history, its elbows tense, watching the curve of a particular road as if something might happen.
speaks
The world speaks everything to us. It is our only friend.
acting saddest self
The saddest are those not right in their liveswho are acting to make things right for others:they act only from the self --and that self will never be right:no luck, no help, no wisdom.
acting lives saddest self wisdom
The saddest are those not right in their lives who are acting to make things right for others: they act only from the self -- and that self will never be right: no luck, no help, no wisdom.
happens legends twice
So, the world happens twice --once what we see it as;second it legends itselfdeep, the way it is.