Reviews of 'Encountering Stafford'

A running list of comments, emails and reviews regarding this site:

I surely share your appreciation of Stafford's work and life, and I like what you're doing with this blog.
--comment from poet Jeff Gundy, Bluffton University

An insightful new blog entitled Encountering William Stafford. Reminds me a little of Rilke's Letters To A Young Poet but from the perspective of the young poet.
--News From Nowhere's links page

My wife and two close friends of ours are studying William's work as a way of furthering our own consciousness and living from a place of integrity. We are enjoying this process immensely. We are considerably older than you so it would nice to have a 28 year old viewpoint in our discussions.
--email from Ronald L. Riffel, Sarasota, FL

I am a poet and a Mennonite...I have heard of William Stafford, but did not know he was 'Christian', much less pacifist...Your blog clarified the connection between Stafford and pacifism; that is the Brethren... Now that I know...Mr. William Stafford shall be my next babtism by immersion.
--email from Daniel Foote, Bethany, OK

I have briefly looked over your blog and look forward to spending more time with it. I have a dear poet friend with whom I read sometimes and it will be fun to show her your enthusiasm for Stafford. I'm looking forward to learning more about this admired poet through you.
--email from Sue Hanson, Poulsbo, WA

Initiation: A Poem

I wrote this poem after days of trying to disect Stafford's poem "Believer" (The Way It Is 112-113). I don't know if I've come any closer to cracking the poem, but I've given it this try.


Initiation

When you are lost on the open road
and you still see everyone for miles,
who chooses to step forward
      and say, "Listen..."?

If magnetism confuses its poles
how does attraction spark fresh from the world,
pulling all of us in ways, through force, toward iron?

All of us need, not magnets in our pockets,
but empty, wide spaces
where the gift of vision, knowing who we are,
                    waves as it pushes past.
Our response is to say its name.

Sing Now: A Poem

This is a poem I wrote a while ago after reading a poem of Stafford's, though the title eludes me at them moment.

Sing Now

A cappella four-part harmony is.
Everything else waits, listens.
Silence rises on air
at each breath, while
heaven descends on
old hundredth or 606.

All we need is now.
Before and after tumble
down, and now lifts away.
Sound is the only chapel.

A cappella four-part harmony is:
it saves us everywhere.