David Wagoner > Quotes

“Lost'

Stand still.
The trees ahead and the bushes beside you Are not lost.
Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still.
The forest knows Where you are.
You must let it find you.”
― David Wagoner

“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.”
― David Wagoner, Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems

“Displaced by darkness, you lie flat on your back, putting the world behind you, and stare at the moon, the embarrassing moon, with nothing to offer it, no ebb or flow, no wolfish transformations except this lunacy you keep to yourself”
― David Wagoner, In Broken Country

“After the Point of No Return

After that moment when you've lost all reason
for going back where you started, when going ahead
is no longer a Yes or No, but a matter of fact,
you'll need to weigh, on the one hand, what will seem,
on the other, almost nothing against something
slightly more than nothing and must choose
again and again, at points of fewer and fewer
chances to guess, when and which way to turn.

That's when you might stop thinking about stars
and storm clouds, the direction of wind,
the difference between rain and snow, the time
of day or the lay of the land, about which trees
mean water, which birds know what you need
to know before it's too late, or what's right here
under your feet, no longer able to tell you
where it was you thought you had to go.”
― David Wagoner, After the Point of No Return

“When given a place to wait, it fills that place
By taking the shape of what contains it,
Its upper surface poised and level,
Absorbing, accepting what it can as lightly
Or heavily as it does itself. If pressed
Down, it will offer back in all directions
Everything it was given. If chilled, it will shatter
Daylight and whiten to stars, will harden and sharpen
And turn unforseeably dazzling. Neglected,
It will disappear, being transformed and lifted
Into thin air. Or thrown away, it will gather
With other water, which is all one water,
And rise and fall, regather and go on rising
And falling the more quickly its path descends
And the more slowly as it wears that path away,
To be left awhile, to stir for the moon, to wait
For the wind to begin again.”
― David Wagoner

“Time Off For Good Behavior
Of course it stops. If you lie down
In the dark, your heart unburdens itself
As gladly as you, taking small comfort
From what you manage to dream, not beating
(Since you’re no longer there to listen)
At the cage-bars of your breastbone.

Why should it throb all night without you?
All day, telling itself its time
Is passing, passing away, it counted
On you to be different, not the grudging
And bloody-minded, skin-tight jailor
Making his rounds, jangling his key-ring.

But you did nothing new to persuade it
Hearts must earn their keep in The Night
To be pardoned someday, forgiven, even
Given away for good to someone.
So it waits for that moment when you fall
Asleep, off-guard. Then it stops cold.”
― David Wagoner, Landfall: Poems

“…You should stay alive
As often as possible and keep yourself open
to anything out of place and everything
with nowhere else to go, to carry what’s left
of your voice out and beyond, into, over,
and under, past, within, outside, between,
among, across, along, and up and around
and to be beside yourself when the spirit moves you…”
― David Wagoner, After the Point of No Return

“In case of snow
Drifting toward winter,
Don’t try to stay awake through the night, afraid of freezing--
The bottom of your mind knows all about zero;
It will turn you over
And shake you till you waken.
-- David Wagoner”
― David Wagoner, Staying Alive

“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

—David Wagoner, “Lost,” Collected Poems 1956-1976 (Indiana University Press, 1976)”
― David Wagoner, Collected Poems: 1956-1976

“A Brief History"

“A poet writes the history of his body” Thoreau

Where it went, what it came back to,
where and why it laid itself down
and tried to sleep, what happened to it
without advice or consent,
what it failed at, how it disobeyed
its own commands to no purpose,
what it held in its hands when it was told
and told to let go, what it neglected
to open its arms for, how it wouldn’t
stand still, not even when it might as well
have had no legs at all
to be running away with, or the times
when it would sit and wait
without knowing what it was waiting for
in places where it didn’t belong,
how it broke down, how
but not why it made marks again
and again on pieces of paper.”
― David Wagoner, After the Point of No Return

“They show us more often
Than not how to die
At the same time and in more ways
Of doing both, of taking the first
Out of the heart of the other
And spreading it around…”
― David Wagoner, After the Point of No Return

“Wherever you are is called Here
and you must treat it as a powerful stranger.”
― David Wagoner, Collected Poems: 1956-1976

“In case of snow
Drifting toward winter,
Don’t try to stay awake through the long winter night, afraid of freezing--
The bottom of your mind knows all about zero;
It will turn you over
And shake you till you waken.
-- David Wagoner”
― David Wagoner

“We’d have to dance beforehand anywhere else
but here, where rain is already happening,
how simple it all seems to persuade the gods
to bring their heaven down, to shower us
with that most comfortable answer to a prayer;
results before the fact.”
― David Wagoner, After the Point of No Return