The Way It Is Thereโs a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesnโt change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you canโt get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old. Nothing you do can stop timeโs unfolding. You donโt ever let go of the thread. ~ William Stafford ~
William StaffordI don't see writing as a communication of something already discovered, as "truths" already known. Rather, I see writing as a job of experiment. It's like any discovery job; you don't know what's going to happen until you try it.
William StaffordAsk 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.
William StaffordOnce we have tasted far streams, touched the gold, found some limit beyond the waterfall, a season changes and we come back changed but safe, quiet, grateful.
William Stafford