Saturday, December 18, 2010

Thinking of Bill Stafford


Thinking of Bill Stafford

simple they said - but missed entirely
the misty complexities and strange aroma
of a life lived like that

that writing has legs, and oozes bit by bit
through the mind with hardly a slant rhyme
to call home

simple is not the same as a life with
no passion, and the drill still
has mystery to it

it’s harder than you think not to bestow praise
even if you do know the fine translation is
“like me, like me!”

for the next lifetime, rise at dawn, and write something,
anything. lower your standards until
there's no need

Kathy Bowman, homage to Stafford's Thinking About Being Called Simple By A Critic


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