Stories that Could Be True: New and Collected Poems

by William Stafford

Quietly stated situations and accompanying impressions express the deep, momentary perceptions that play on the poets seemingly passive sensitivity

Genres: Poetry

267 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

William 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...

Reviews

[Melody Schwarting]

Stafford writes of the West and the Great Plains and forests and those are the lands I love. His images linger with me and I marked a lot of poems for re-reading.

-----

"B.C." (76)

The seed that met water spoke a little name.

(Great sunflowers were lording the air that day;
this was before Jesus, before Rome; that other air
was readying our hundreds of years to say things
that rain has beat down on over broken stones
and heaped behind us in many slag lands.)

Quiet in the earth a drop of water came,
and the little seed spoke: "Sequoia is my name."



"A Story" (169)

After they passed I climbed
out of my hole and sat
in the sun again. Loose rocks
all around make it safe--I can
hear anyone moving. It often
troubles me to think how others
dare to live where stealth is possible,
and how they can feel safe, considering
all the narrow places,
without whiskers.

Anyway, those climbers were a puzzle--
above where I live nothing lives.
And they never came down. There is no
other way. The way it is,
they crawl far before they die.
I make my hole the deepest one
this high on the mountainside.



"Waking at 3 A.M." (209-210)

Even in the cave of the night when you
wake and are free and lonely,
neglected by others, discarded, loved only
by what doesn't matter--even in that
big room no one can see,
you push with your eyes till forever
comes in its twisted figure eight
and lies down in your head.

You think water in the river;
you think slower than the tide in
the grain of the wood; you become
a secret storehouse that saves the country,
so open and foolish and empty.

You look over all that the darkness
ripples across. More than has ever
been found comforts you. You open your
eyes in a vault that unlocks as fast
and as far as your thoughts can run.
A great snug wall goes around everything,
has always been there, will always
remain. It is a good world to be
lost in. It comforts you. It is
all right. And you sleep.

[Noah Schumacher]

Stafford writes with great enthusiasm. He brings interest to the otherwise boring and uninteresting things in life. This is a great book of poetry for anyone wanting a break from typical patterns and rhythms often found in poetry books. Stafford has a style all his own.

[Barrie Evans]

I’ve read this collection at least twice. I go back to it again and again when I want to see what it’s like when you don’t judge your experience and your writing.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

[Daniel Seifert]

This is a wonderful compilation of Stafford poetry: poems that transform the familiar into the unique conveying a voice of one who listens and hears the quiet complexities within and without.


Quiet as all books, I wait, and promise
we’ll watch the night: you turn a page;
winter misses a stride. You see
the reason for time, for everything in the sky.
And into your eyes I climb, on the strongest
thread in the world, weaving the dark and the cold.

from "This Book"

[Theresa]

This collection is like a favorite worn pair of jeans. Sliding into home. My first copy fell apart. My brother found me another 1st edition, brand new, and I felt like a lost friend and I had been reunited. Such an accessible poet. Even those who don't like poetry would find plenty to love and relate to in Mr. Stafford's work.

[Barbara]

I referred again and again to these poems. He was one of the poets that I wanted to write like. He seemed to be a shy,modest,almost diffident man. I heard him at a poetry workshop in Ellensberg in the late '70s.

[Cws]

811.54

[Julie]

Well edited collection of poems speaking to the West, to family and to the forgotten.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 S7796t 1977