Wallowa Waters, William Stafford Style

As part of Wallowa County’s celebration of poet William Stafford’s birthday in January, Fishtrap is inviting writers to submit poems about Wallowa County rivers and streams for web publication. While the inspiration is to write “in the style of William Stafford” (see the sample poem, used here by permission from Graywolf Press (www.graywolfpress.org), you may use any form you like, from haiku to sonnet to free verse.

William Stafford

Ask Me

Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.

I will listen to what you say.
You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.
   

 

Whether you submit a poem or not, please come to the William Stafford birthday celebration at the Fishtrap Coffin House, 400 E. Grant Street, Enterprise, at 3 p.m. on January 23rd .  We will have a short video, an open mic reading event and a few treats.  You can come just to listen, or share a poem you wrote or your favorite William Stafford poem. We will publish selected submissions on the William Stafford Poems at Fishtrap blog site.

Unsure or want assistance? For encouragement, to get questions answered or to submit your poems, please contact staffordpoems@fishtrap.org.

William Stafford - Ask Me