A prolific writer, famous pacifist, respected teacher, and literary mentor to many, William Stafford is one of the great American poets of the 20th century. His first major collection--Traveling through the Dark--won the National Book Award. William Stafford published more than sixty-five volumes of poetry and prose and was Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress--a position now know as the Poet Laureate. Before William Stafford's death in 1993, he gave his son Kim the greatest gift and challenge: to be his literary executor. In Early Morning, Kim creates an intimate portrait of a father and son who shared many passions: archery, photography, carpentry, and finally, writing itself. But Kim also confronts the great paradox at the center of William Stafford's life. The public man, the poet who was always communicating with warmth and feeling--even with strangers--was capable of profound, and often painful silence within the family. By piecing together a collage of his personal and family memories, and sifting through thousands of pages, of his father's daily writing and poems, Kim illuminates a fascinating and richly lived life.

"In our time there has been no poet who revived human hearts and spirits more convincingly than William Stafford." —Naomi Shihab Nye Some time when the river is ice ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life. —from "Ask Me" In celebration of the poet's centennial, Ask Me collects one hundred of William Stafford's essential poems. As a conscientious objector during World War II, while assigned to Civilian Public Service camps Stafford began his daily writing practice, a lifelong early-morning ritual of witness. His poetry reveals the consequences of violence, the daily necessity of moral decisions, and the bounty of art. Selected and with a note by Kim Stafford, Ask Me presents the best from a profound and original American voice.

A collection of poems by twentieth-century American poet William Stafford, featuring unpublished works from his last year of life, including the poem he wrote the day he died, and providing selections drawn from throughout his career, from the 1960s through the 1990s.

Kitchen (English, SUNY-Brockport) views Stafford's works chronologically, identifying themes and techniques, considering his prose writings and career as a teacher, and offering a comprehensive reassessment of Stafford as a major and distinctive poet of the second half of the century. 5x7 Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

An excellent introduction for readers coming to Stafford for the first time and a valuable overview of the work for the many readers already familiar with his poetry, this book offers the best single guide to one of the most respected and celebrated poets of our time.

"Included in the book are a selection of Stafford's poetry on the subject of writing, and an essay on the origins and influences of his art."--Page 4 of cover.

Born the year World War I began, acclaimed poet William Stafford (1914-1993) spent World War II in a camp for conscientious objectors. Throughout a century of conflict he remained convinced that wars simply don't work. In his writings, Stafford showed it is possible--and crucial--to think independently when fanatics act, and to speak for reconciliation when nations take sides. He believed it was a failure of imagination to only see two options: to fight or to run away. This book gathers the evidence of a lifetime's commitment to nonviolence, including an account of Stafford's near-hanging at the hands of American patriots. In excerpts from his daily journal from 1951-1991, Stafford uses questions, alternative views of history, lyric invitations, and direct assessments of our political habits to suggest another way than war. Many of these statements are published here for the first time, together with a generous selection of Stafford's pacifist poems and interviews from elusive sources. Stafford provides an alternative approach to a nation's military habit, our current administration's aggressive instincts, and our legacy of armed ventures in Europe, the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and beyond.