I think William Stafford is a wonderful poet. His son, Kim Stafford, is too.
Together, they produced a wonderful lesson on writing. Kim wrote an article about his father’s writing practice as a way of marking the centennial of his father’s birth. The article appeared 10 years ago today.
William Stafford would get up at 4 a.m. so he could enjoy the quiet before the household started the day. He reclined on an old couch with a sheet of paper.
Kim identified four elements on his father’s daily pages:
• The date, a kind of trigger to get started, but surprisingly useful.
• Some prose notes, an observation, a snatch of conversation, details of a dream. He was getting away from the temptation to pontificate and getting on the trail of ordinary experience.
• An aphorism, a free-standing sentence. It might be an idea or a question.
• Something that looks like poetry. He was making notes and trying out lines, trying to turn the experience into a poem. Sometimes he succeeded.
William Stafford was generous with young writers. He wrote about his writing practice and gave interviews about it. Kim Stafford also wrote a book about his father’s practice and poetry. I recommend them all. But this article is an excellent place to start. It gets to what writing is, a practice, rather a romantic, heroic effort. It’s just a habitual way of thinking.
In Kim Stafford’s words:
Most of us do an assignment shortly before it is due. (That's often true for me.) It's better to begin the project when it's first assigned, not when it's due. And, I realize again and again, it's even better to practice self-directed searching, writing, thinking on the page — when there is no assignment given. This empowers the free range of mind, of "hands-on thinking." By something like this daily practice, you build up a personal sheaf of riches, a democracy of inner voices, an archive you can draw from as needed for work and pleasure over time.
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