A poet of hope

 Kim Stafford’s book As the Sky Begins to Change begins with this: 

Some people presume to be hopeful

with no evidence of hope, to be

happy when there is no cause.

Let me say now, I’m with them.

 

That’s the opening stanza of the poem “For the Bird Singing Before Dawn.” The image is of a little bird in a dangerous, dark, cold world. It ventures a peep and a warble and then belts out a song. The sun comes up.

It reminds me, when every word of news seems to be bad, that this darkness will pass.

Kim Stafford, like his father, William Stafford, appears often in this collection of notes.

Poetry can do a lot of things, some of which are barely believable. It seems almost a miracle that a book of poetry could lift anyone’s spirits in dark times. But Kim Stafford’s poetry does that for me.

• Source and notes: Kim Stafford, As the Sky Begins to Change; Pasadena, Calif.: Red Hen Press, 2024, p. 15. For more his poem “Citizen for Dark Times,” see “Consulting a poet,” Nov. 7, 2024.