#william stafford

[mournfulroses]

William Stafford, from Selected Poems; "For My Young Friends Who Are Afraid,"

[loveisdamnation]

you’ve still got time

tiny beautiful things, cheryl strayed | wild geese, mary oliver | anna akhmatova | tuesday, alex dimitrov | sunrise, louise glück | just thinking, william stafford | night walk, franz wright | why be happy when you could be normal?, jeanette winterson

[firstfullmoon]

William Stafford, “Assurance”

[havingapoemwithyou]

yes by William Stafford

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

William Stafford

[mortalpractice]

Yes

It could happen any time, tornado, earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen. Or sunshine, love, salvation.

It could, you know. That’s why we wake and look out — no guarantees in this life.

But some bonuses, like morning, like right now, like noon, like evening.

— William Stafford, The Way It Is

[geopsych]

The Way It Is There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old. Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread. —William Stafford

[nobeerreviews]

Let the bucket of memory down into the well, bring it up. Cool, cool minutes. No one stirring, no plans. Just being there.

-- William Stafford

(lake Zurich, Switzerland)

[petaltexturedskies]

Now I carry those days in a tiny box wherever I go. I open the lid like this and let the light glimpse and then glance away. There is a sigh like my breath when I do this. Some days I do this again and again.

William Stafford, from "Remembering" in The Darkness Around Us Is Deep: Selected Poems

[seekingstars]

It's All Right - William Stafford

[lizacstuff]

Abbott Elementary cast at Ava Fest San Diego Comic Con 2024

[dk-thrive]

Now, to bring it back I stare, unfocused, into a middle distance. The speck floats, steady as a planet.

It was lost for good, I thought, the writing, but no, as the poet says and I quote, it is 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. It's that speck, the floater in my right eye torn from the back of the retina and lodged a little to the right of my vision. The particle I kept trying to blink away and couldn't, nothing but irreversible loss, damage, until the eye became habituated, and I forgot. Now, to bring it back I stare, unfocused, into a middle distance. The speck floats, steady as a planet.

— Kinereth Gensler, "Writing Poetry. After William Stafford." (Poetry Foundation, May 1992) (via Mandy McHugh)

[firstfullmoon]

William Stafford, “Just Thinking,” in Ask Me

[havingapoemwithyou]

you reading this, be ready by William Stafford

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Cimarron, New Mexico. Photo: Wayne Mikos (Jan 6, 2025)

* * * *

Yes It could happen any time, tornado, earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen. Or sunshine, love, salvation. It could, you know. That's why we wake and look out no guarantees in this life. But some bonuses, like morning, like right now, like noon, like evening. -William Stafford

[geopsych]

The Way It Is

There's a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn't change.

People wonder about what you are pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can't get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old.

Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.

You don't ever let go of the thread.

-William Stafford