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
rivers topics kind
I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly. And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo, or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along.
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.
Even the upper end of the riverbelieves in the ocean.
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.
anyone greater turn
What can anyone give you greater than now,starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?
contend evidence living
I am a person a dictionary-maker has to contend with. I am a living evidence in the development of language.
million
One way to find your place is likethe rain, a million requestsfor lodging, one that wins, findsyour cheek: you find your home.
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.
evening forest hill path silence touched
Silence on a hill where the path endedand then the forest belowmoving in one long whisperas evening touched the leaves.
below ended evening forest hill moving path silence touched whisper
Silence on a hill where the path ended and then the forest below moving in one long whisper as evening touched the leaves.
bright cover cup island shelter storm winter
Shelter in winter that day --a storm coming, but in the leeof an island in a cover with friends --oh, little bright cup of sun.
air earth emperor listen next saying time
Next time what I'd do is look atthe earth before saying anything. I'd stopjust before going into a houseand be an emperor for a minuteand listen better to the windor to the air being still.