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About
Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life.
-from "Ask Me"
In celebration of the poet's centennial, Ask Me collects one hundred of William Stafford's essential poems. As a conscientious objector during World War II, while assigned to Civilian Public Service camps Stafford began his daily writing practice, a lifelong early-morning ritual of witness. His poetry reveals the consequences of violence, the daily necessity of moral decisions, and the bounty of art. Selected and with a note by Kim Stafford, Ask Me presents the best from a profound and original American voice.
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life.
-from "Ask Me"
In celebration of the poet's centennial, Ask Me collects one hundred of William Stafford's essential poems. As a conscientious objector during World War II, while assigned to Civilian Public Service camps Stafford began his daily writing practice, a lifelong early-morning ritual of witness. His poetry reveals the consequences of violence, the daily necessity of moral decisions, and the bounty of art. Selected and with a note by Kim Stafford, Ask Me presents the best from a profound and original American voice.
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Reviews
"I was so surprised at the depth of William Stafford's poetry, and it fell into my heart as if it had always been there."
Alice Walker
"Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems is a wonderful one-volume introduction to Stafford's poetry."
Oregonian
"[Ask Me] does what Stafford's poetry itself does--it performs a small, creaturely act of reaching out. . . . Honoring a beauty that escapes national boundaries, and throwing his lot in with the outcasts, Stafford celebrates otherwise neglected yet crucial areas of our personal and public experience. If poetry itself seems at times to be 'hallowed by neglect,' a book such as Ask Me goes a long way
Star Tribune