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[wildman]

    No Praise, No Blame

    What have the clouds been up to today? You can't
     blame them, you know. Their edges just
     happen, and where they go is the fault of the wind.
     I'd like my arrival to be like that, alone and
     quiet, really present but never to blame.

     And I'd never presume or apologize, and if anyone
     pressed me I'd be gone, and come back there
     only some harmless, irresistibe presence
     all around you, like the truth, something you need,
     like the air.

           

[medkrau]

Hi, wildman:
That's a great poem you selected. I've gotten into Wm. Stafford's work myself (thanks to a certain poetry student's influence). I liked the line "the fault of the wind". It's very direct, very honest. I think there's a philosophical quality to Stafford's work. You can almost breathe his poetry.

[lesliefmiller]

I love Stafford.  Nice to see you, Len.

[theirishsea]

Reading this Stafford poem got me to take Stafford's   A Glass Face In The Rain   off the shelf. I'll post one of those poems. I think I have a deeper appreciation of Stafford today than I did 10-15 years ago. Mike Fallon first brought Stafford to my attention. I had seen & heard him in person once---late 70's at the Library of Congress. I believe the poem about the deer is his "big hit", in all the anthologies but there is so much more to him & so many more poems of his to read.

Wildman, we owe you for 2 things here---posting this superb poem & bringing Stafford back to our attention.