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The Darkness Around Us is Deep: Selected Poems
Bestselling author Robert Bly selects his favorite works by the award-winning poet William Stafford.
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1993
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About the author
William Stafford
190 books126 followersWilliam Edgar Stafford was an American poet and pacifist, and the father of poet and essayist Kim Stafford. He and his writings are sometimes identified with the Pacific Northwest.
In 1970, he was named Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position that is now known as Poet Laureate. In 1975, he was named Poet Laureate of Oregon; his tenure in the position lasted until 1990. In 1980, he retired from Lewis & Clark College but continued to travel extensively and give public readings of his poetry. In 1992, he won the Western States Book Award for lifetime achievement in poetry.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...
In 1970, he was named Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position that is now known as Poet Laureate. In 1975, he was named Poet Laureate of Oregon; his tenure in the position lasted until 1990. In 1980, he retired from Lewis & Clark College but continued to travel extensively and give public readings of his poetry. In 1992, he won the Western States Book Award for lifetime achievement in poetry.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
April 26, 2019
Robert Bly edited and introduced this short selection of William Stafford’s poems. It is much needed, since Stafford is an extremely prolific poet, and it is good to have an excellent judge like Bly to look through all the good stuff and choose the most characteristic and best. (It was Stafford’s practice to write a poem everyday. When someone asked him, what he would do if he wasn’t inspired that day, he said, “Well, then I just lower my standards.)
William Stafford grew up in Kansas, spent WW II as a conscientious objector working at forestry and conservation in Civilian Public Service Camps in Arkansas, California, and Illinois, and lived much of his life teaching and writing in Oregon. He was a big fan of Wordsworth and Whitman, and it shows, for his poems are plain spoken, and often deceptively simple. He is best known for “Traveling Through the Dark,” one of the greatest short poems of the 20th century. (If you don’t know it, stop reading this review right now and look it up.)
Bly’s introduction does an excellent job of showing us what to look for in Stafford’s work. He discusses the poems in terms of six themes he finds in them (“Family and Children,” Speaking the Native American Part in Him,” “Mother’s Voice and Father’s Voice,” etc.) and then organizes his selection according to the same themes, so that the reader may explore them in detail.
Here are a few Stafford poems that stick with me. There are many others I could have picked instead.
FIRST GRADE
In the play Amy didn’t want to be
anybody; so she managed the curtain.
Sharon wanted to be Amy. But Sam
wouldn’t let anybody be anybody else—
he said it was wrong. “All right,” Steve said,
“I’ll be me, but I don’t like it.”
So Amy was Amy, and we didn’t have the play.
And Sharon cried.
MEDITATION
Animals full of light
walk through the forest
toward someone aiming a gun
loaded with darkness.
That’s the world. God
holding still,
letting it happen again
and again and again.
MY FATHER: OCTOBER 1942
He picks up what he thinks is
a road map, and it is
his death: he holds it easily, and
nothing can take it from his firm hand.
The pulsed in his thumb on the map
says, “1:19 P.M. next Tuesday, at
the intersection.” And an ambulance
begins to throb while his face looks tired.
March 2, 2025
It is almost impossible to rate or review a poetry book because we can like or love some its poems and dislike others. I do my best to give an overall binary rating that says worth reading overally. A dear Chinese friend coined this adverb and I find it superior.
I do think this book is largely beautiful and worth reading. Robert Bly's introduction is not worth it, but then what introduction ever is?
I do think this book is largely beautiful and worth reading. Robert Bly's introduction is not worth it, but then what introduction ever is?
July 8, 2009
"You don't have to
prove anything," my mother said. "Just be ready
for what God sends." I listened and put my hand
out in the sun again. It was all easy."
Wonderful, gutsy, spiritual stuff. I've learned so much from Stafford.
prove anything," my mother said. "Just be ready
for what God sends." I listened and put my hand
out in the sun again. It was all easy."
Wonderful, gutsy, spiritual stuff. I've learned so much from Stafford.
February 1, 2017
Can't say enough of this collection. The intro says that whenever you set a detail down in language, it becomes the end of a thread. The writer and reader's goal is to find the ends of golden threads and to follow them wherever they go. This books is full of wonderful, golden threads to follow, combining the mundane and the magical in almost every poem.
July 30, 2008
A selection of poems by William Stafford, edited and with an introduction by Robert Bly.
The poems are worth reading, but I mostly remember this book for an anecdote that Bly relates about Stafford:
William Stafford looks mild, but actually he is quite fierce. I heard a story about a week he spent as teacher at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. The staff emphasized "finding your voice," which turned out to be a study of what the poetry establishment wanted at the moment. Every teacher gave one craft lecture. Stafford began, "I have to say that I don't agree with anything that has been said here this week. You already have a voice and don't need to find one." He hasn't been invited back.
The poems are worth reading, but I mostly remember this book for an anecdote that Bly relates about Stafford:
William Stafford looks mild, but actually he is quite fierce. I heard a story about a week he spent as teacher at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. The staff emphasized "finding your voice," which turned out to be a study of what the poetry establishment wanted at the moment. Every teacher gave one craft lecture. Stafford began, "I have to say that I don't agree with anything that has been said here this week. You already have a voice and don't need to find one." He hasn't been invited back.
June 15, 2008
I love poetry, but I hate most poetry. Stafford's is the exception. There's not much to say other than read it and be edified. It doesn't get any better than "A Ritual to Be Read to Each Other."
August 25, 2022
3.814 Stars
January 9, 2024
This is a profound and beautiful book of poetry. It felt like entering into someone’s dream world and being lifted and carried through its marvels. The world it describes is no more: a land without television or internet, living on a small farm, knowing a town of relatives. A naked woman dancing in a cage at the State Fair. The flaring angers of a soldier mother. And the development of Stafford’s nonviolence. The final two lines of the book may become my mantra for 2024: “the signals we give—yes, no, or maybe— / should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.”
July 9, 2010
The collection gives an incredible amount of introspection and thought. The poems range from portraits of his family to meditations on the human condition. He is a poet who brings the reader in because of his stark honesty. The collection, compiled by Robert Bly, displays a great tapestry of Stafford’s work.
September 8, 2012
Stafford is a master poet, but his voice is so quiet as to be deceptive. He's like Frost: sharp, insightful, direct but with a plain speech way of writing, and he cares more about the human race, where we're all going and what matters for everyone, than any other poet I've ever read. If I could read one book of poetry the rest of my life, this may be it.
December 24, 2008
One of his classics. The title poem especially moving. That line gets me all the time.
March 2, 2009
Not my favorite selected poems; there are some classic Stafford pieces conspicuously absent from this book.
April 13, 2018
When one has read as many books by William Stafford as I have [1], you get a sense for the most important elements of his work to those who make compilations. One knows that one is going to get a selection of good poems that is nonetheless varied in terms of its register and subject matter, but there will be some consistent perspectives and subjects that will appear over and over again. Moreover, when one has read as many compilations of Stafford's poems, one has a sense of something that is somewhat important, and that is a growing consensus within the publishing community about the essential poems of William Stafford that are part of the poetry canon. Now, this will not matter to a lot of readers who may only read the various "best of" compilations and see many of the same poems over and over again, because such readers do not know the context of Stafford's work as a whole. But as someone who has read a substantial portion of the books published by the poet during his life time (as well as those which were posthumously published), the wider scope of works that are often selected makes the fact that certain poems are chosen over and over again pretty notable, especially because there are some poems rarely chosen if at all for anthologies that are just as good as the ones that are chosen over and over again.
This particular selection of poetry begins with an introduction by the poet Robert Bly, who was a close friend of Stafford and who also serves as the editor of this collection. After this introduction we get a thematic division of selected poems between those about family and children (1), those that relate to traveling through the dark (2), those that speak to Stafford's part Native American ancestry (3), poems that contrast the voice of his father and mother (4), poems about his childhood in Kansas (5), and poems that deal with his refusal to serve in war (6). After this there is an index making this collection a good bit over 100 pages, which puts it towards the longer side of Stafford's collections of poetry. And there are many familiar poems one will see here, including such frequently anthologized poems such as "Ask Me," "Traveling Through The Dark," "Passing Remark," "Allegiances," "Remembering Brother Bob," "At The Bomb Testing Site," "How It Is," and many others the frequent reader of his poems will likely be very familiar with. This book, along with his other compilations, are likely to give what is increasingly the consensus verdict as to what poems of Stafford's are the most important to read and to understand.
Given that there is such a large number of compilations of Stafford's poems that each make varying but strikingly similar judgments as to which of Stafford's poems are the most "essential," or that show which of Stafford's poems are like the popular kids at school that are selected first over and over again, what is the worth of reading one more such collection? In this case, aside from the welcome chance to reread poems by Stafford, which is something to appreciate as often as possible, what makes this collection unique is the introduction by Robert Bly. Although I do not appreciate Robert Bly as a poet (at least not the extent that I appreciate Stafford's work), the fact that Bly was a close friend of Stafford's and viewed Stafford's poetry through the hermeneutic of generosity and had a great deal of insight into Stafford as a man makes his introductory material worthwhile in putting Stafford's poetry in a context. Particularly worthwhile is the way that Bly praises his late friend for realizing that a good deal of the readers of his poetry were already awake, so that he did not talk down to them as is the habit of many contemporary poets. Poets would do well to learn from Stafford that anyone who takes the time to read books of poems is likely to be an unusual sort of reader with a great deal of insight, and that a friendly conversation from one reader to another is better than a lecture.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
This particular selection of poetry begins with an introduction by the poet Robert Bly, who was a close friend of Stafford and who also serves as the editor of this collection. After this introduction we get a thematic division of selected poems between those about family and children (1), those that relate to traveling through the dark (2), those that speak to Stafford's part Native American ancestry (3), poems that contrast the voice of his father and mother (4), poems about his childhood in Kansas (5), and poems that deal with his refusal to serve in war (6). After this there is an index making this collection a good bit over 100 pages, which puts it towards the longer side of Stafford's collections of poetry. And there are many familiar poems one will see here, including such frequently anthologized poems such as "Ask Me," "Traveling Through The Dark," "Passing Remark," "Allegiances," "Remembering Brother Bob," "At The Bomb Testing Site," "How It Is," and many others the frequent reader of his poems will likely be very familiar with. This book, along with his other compilations, are likely to give what is increasingly the consensus verdict as to what poems of Stafford's are the most important to read and to understand.
Given that there is such a large number of compilations of Stafford's poems that each make varying but strikingly similar judgments as to which of Stafford's poems are the most "essential," or that show which of Stafford's poems are like the popular kids at school that are selected first over and over again, what is the worth of reading one more such collection? In this case, aside from the welcome chance to reread poems by Stafford, which is something to appreciate as often as possible, what makes this collection unique is the introduction by Robert Bly. Although I do not appreciate Robert Bly as a poet (at least not the extent that I appreciate Stafford's work), the fact that Bly was a close friend of Stafford's and viewed Stafford's poetry through the hermeneutic of generosity and had a great deal of insight into Stafford as a man makes his introductory material worthwhile in putting Stafford's poetry in a context. Particularly worthwhile is the way that Bly praises his late friend for realizing that a good deal of the readers of his poetry were already awake, so that he did not talk down to them as is the habit of many contemporary poets. Poets would do well to learn from Stafford that anyone who takes the time to read books of poems is likely to be an unusual sort of reader with a great deal of insight, and that a friendly conversation from one reader to another is better than a lecture.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
August 23, 2024
The Introductiob could have been cut way shorter and "spoiled" less of the stand-out poems, but if your only complaint isn't even about the poems themselves you know you've got your hands on a great collection. I loved that the poems were grouped thematically (f. ex. "Family and Children", "Speaking the Native American Part in Him") since that made it feel like you were reading several mini-collections and effectively created a very distinct atmosphere for each chapter of the collection. The poems themselves undoubtedly proof that Stafford has mastered the art of poetry, conveying an emotional warmth as well as intelligent insight. Through astute observation, Stafford manages to imbue everyday situations with heartfelt gravitas without ever sounding pretentious. When he uses metaphors (like the famous 'elephants holding each others tails' fron the titular poem) he weaves them into an entire narrative and builds on them wonderfully. Plus, his deep empathy and pacifist nature really shine through in the messages a lot of the poems convey. If you've heard of comfort shows or movies, Stafford' s collection is like that but in literary form, leaving you with a sense of hope and tranquility (and looking at the state of the world right now, that kind of pick-me-up is sorely needed). My personal favorites include "At Our House", "My Hands", "Run Before Dawn", "How to Regain Your Soul", "People of the South Wind", "Report to Crazy Horse", "Troubleshooting", "Aunt Mabel" (if you 're only going to read one of the poems on this collection please let it be this one!!!), "Objector", "Time Capsule", and ofc "A Ritual to Read to Each Other" (I realize it's a long-ass list but I told you, it's a really solid collection).
April 29, 2019
I have always loved William Stafford and his poetry. Plain-spoken, humble, and profound, some of his lines are those I hang onto most. A Quaker poet, a WWII conscientious-objector, morning runner, and fantastic teacher. Reading these poems again was like an outdoor hike and chat with an old friend.
December 11, 2019
I love the blend of simple observation and deep truth in William Stafford’s poetry. Reading Robert Bly’s introduction was helpful before starting this, but rereading it after the fact was worthwhile too. He points to Stafford’s Native American ancestry, conscientious objectorship in WW II and relationship with his parents as keys to understanding this beautiful, heartfelt work.
October 5, 2020
Understated quiet with the emotion quite contained. Also, contradictory, quite passionate. I usually do not like Bly's introductions but in this case I do like it. Of course it should be read after reading Staffords poems. My favorite poem is the last in the book titled 'A ritual to read to each other'. The poem can be found online if you are curious.
April 24, 2021
2 of these poems were used in my lit classes, but I’d never noted the author before reading this book. The style seems almost like a blend of Romantic-era poetry with modern stuff, which I really appreciate. I got this from the library, but I think I want to own a copy at some point, so I can make notes in it.
December 31, 2023
Le doy 3.5 estrellas solo porque los poemas no son mi género literario favorito. Sin embargo, hubieron algunos textos que me dejaron pensando, apreciando las palabras y los mensajes, como “Meditation”, por ejemplo. Es un libro para leer y analizar en calma, para apreciar el momento presente y los detalles que nos rodean.
March 31, 2021
One of my late Mom's favorite poetry books.
January 12, 2024
A few classic Stafford poems that I love, but mostly these poems didn't move me.
August 15, 2025
Really a good collection of poetry, some rhyming, some not. Touches on living in a time of war.
August 27, 2010
...Stafford standing tall in the quiet that reveals, in the shadows that illuminate. This is a poet that works harder to say more with less, but also to get more complex messages out of simpler words. If we could ever consistently calm down, we would get to the answer, however painful, and move upward... that's the main message this reader received. Parts of "Archival Print":
God snaps your picture - don't look away -
this room right now, your face tilted
exactly as it is before you can think
or control it. Go ahead, let it betray
all the secret emergencies and still hold
that partial disguise you call your character....
Now you want to explain. Your mother
was a certain-how to express it?-i n f l u e n c e.
Yes. And your father, whatever he was,
you couldn't change that. No. And your town
of course had its limits. Go on, keep talking-
Hold it. Don't move. That's you forever....
The main themes and segments of Stafford's life are put into six memorable sections, including "Mother's Voice and Father's Voice", "Speaking the Native American Part In Him" and "The Refusal to Serve War." Stafford sees riches that our materialist, racing world ignores. He often embraces the wealth of the empty field, the un-monumented border town and the memory of a beloved relative. Celebrated in the Pacific Northwest and respected nationally, Robert Bly says of Stafford: "I believe [he:] will be read with even greater attention in the next hundred years than he is now." I would agree with that assessment and hope it becomes a reality.
God snaps your picture - don't look away -
this room right now, your face tilted
exactly as it is before you can think
or control it. Go ahead, let it betray
all the secret emergencies and still hold
that partial disguise you call your character....
Now you want to explain. Your mother
was a certain-how to express it?-i n f l u e n c e.
Yes. And your father, whatever he was,
you couldn't change that. No. And your town
of course had its limits. Go on, keep talking-
Hold it. Don't move. That's you forever....
The main themes and segments of Stafford's life are put into six memorable sections, including "Mother's Voice and Father's Voice", "Speaking the Native American Part In Him" and "The Refusal to Serve War." Stafford sees riches that our materialist, racing world ignores. He often embraces the wealth of the empty field, the un-monumented border town and the memory of a beloved relative. Celebrated in the Pacific Northwest and respected nationally, Robert Bly says of Stafford: "I believe [he:] will be read with even greater attention in the next hundred years than he is now." I would agree with that assessment and hope it becomes a reality.
July 1, 2013
This was my introduction to Stafford, thanks to Benjamin Myers. (Yes... I know... I should have read him before now. But I am a literary sloth and only read poetry every day.)
This book came on slowly for me. Bly's introduction had some very good moments, which is a lot for me to say when it comes to Bly. Then, Parts 1 and 2 had several poems I enjoyed considerably. Part 3, "Speaking the Native American Part in Him," lost me, I'm afraid. Except for the poem, "Indian Caves in the Dry Country." I Loved that one! But it's only three lines long.
However, Parts 4, 5, and 6 on his parents, some years in Kansas, and refusing to serve in the war, began to... and I mean... kick my ass. I have underlines and stars in the margins all over the place. I can't believe I hadn't discovered this work earlier. Makes me want to find the book of poems selected by his son, just as an excuse to go 'round again.
Bottom line... Stafford's darkness is deep, but filled with some truly great poems that do the western hemisphere proud...
This book came on slowly for me. Bly's introduction had some very good moments, which is a lot for me to say when it comes to Bly. Then, Parts 1 and 2 had several poems I enjoyed considerably. Part 3, "Speaking the Native American Part in Him," lost me, I'm afraid. Except for the poem, "Indian Caves in the Dry Country." I Loved that one! But it's only three lines long.
However, Parts 4, 5, and 6 on his parents, some years in Kansas, and refusing to serve in the war, began to... and I mean... kick my ass. I have underlines and stars in the margins all over the place. I can't believe I hadn't discovered this work earlier. Makes me want to find the book of poems selected by his son, just as an excuse to go 'round again.
Bottom line... Stafford's darkness is deep, but filled with some truly great poems that do the western hemisphere proud...
September 26, 2014
This is a fine collection of poems, selected from a lifetime of writing and published in the year of the poet’s death. Stafford reminds a reader of Robert Frost, in the simplicity of his language and its conversational tone, while he expresses deeply felt matters of the human experience.
The collection is divided into six sections, some related to his family, his upbringing in Kansas, and his Native American roots. A conscientious objector during WWII, he devotes the final section to that episode in his life. Stafford taught at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and during his life won many awards, including the National Book Award. This book includes a thoughtful introduction by poet Robert Bly.
The collection is divided into six sections, some related to his family, his upbringing in Kansas, and his Native American roots. A conscientious objector during WWII, he devotes the final section to that episode in his life. Stafford taught at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and during his life won many awards, including the National Book Award. This book includes a thoughtful introduction by poet Robert Bly.
June 25, 2011
About 3.5 stars from me. I expected to like this more. There were quite a few poems I liked a lot, though. And I love the gentle, meditative grace of it. Reminds me of my father. A similar sensibility, the musing, and quiet wonder at the world.
Most memorable line: "It is important that awake people be awake."
Also, much appreciated:
Medication
Animals full of light
walk through the forest
toward someone aiming a gun
loaded with darkness.
That's the world: God
holding still
letting it happen again,
and again and again.
Most memorable line: "It is important that awake people be awake."
Also, much appreciated:
Medication
Animals full of light
walk through the forest
toward someone aiming a gun
loaded with darkness.
That's the world: God
holding still
letting it happen again,
and again and again.
June 17, 2020
So good to check in again with Mr. Stafford during this troubling time. He always has answers for me. I was lucky enough to interview him when he did a reading at my college during my undergrad years. I'm not sure I've met another human being who was as centered as him even in all the years that have followed. He just got up early every morning and wrote a poem, and what a legacy it is. More people should know and remember the man and the poetry.
July 12, 2016
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I picked it up because I really liked "A Ritual to Read to Each Other". None of the other poems in this collection quite live up to that one, but there are some real gems. Stafford manages to relate everyday natural experiences as mystical without being mysterious. You could do with a worse guide to explore the dark with. Looking forward to reading more poetry by this writer.
October 31, 2010
I came to this collection through the anthologized poem "Traveling in the Dark". Reading through it while sitting on the floor next to my lady, beneath the biography section of my favorite shitty little bookstore on a fairly miserable saturday night made me feel something close to "fragile." It made me feel that being a "man," is just, well, like "traveling in the dark."
September 11, 2014
September 11 is an appropriate day to finish reading this fine poet. A conscientious objector in World War II, Stafford understood the tragedy of unbridled aggression. The violence of 9/11 ironically and sadly unleashed continuing violence throughout the Middle East. Stafford's poems on his youth and family--parents and siblings--reveal almost painful honesty and compassion.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews