Inspired by Stafford

long after melt

some time you can ask, and perhaps I’ll tell, exactly
what happened back then, or maybe I won’t, or maybe
I’ll just make something up just for you. or maybe ….

can you follow a trail scattered with sign? reason, justification,
excuse – or maybe amends. maybe they will be enough
or maybe you’ll walk right by them, with no comment

any life could flow anonymous and dry like a creek
in summer time. sometimes you need to dig under
the rocks with your thumb to find the sweet flow

turn them over if you are strong enough for answers;
dig deeper still if you are ready for heart and meaning
and whatever it is that comes after forgiveness

for the Stafford Celebration, inspired by “Ask Me”

Wallowa Waters, William Stafford Style

As part of Wallowa County’s celebration of poet William Stafford’s birthday this month, 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.

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 at 400 E. Grant Street in Enterprise, Oregon, at 3 p.m. on January 23.

We will have a short video, an open mic reading event, and a few treats. You can come just to listen, or to share a poem you wrote - or your favorite William Stafford poem. We will publish selected submissions here.

Unsure or want assistance? E-mail staffordpoems@fishtrap.org.