Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford: Remembering My Father, the Poet William Stafford

With incredible insight and love, Kim Stafford offers a view into the remarkable life of his father, the poet William StaffordThe unspoken deep affection he lived by was like the idea in his poem about the Eskimos-their disdain for 'People who talk about God.' In his world, a fact so pervasive as love never need be named.William Stafford wrote a poem nearly every day of his life, most often before dawn, as he lay on a much-used couch that bore the imprint of his body after years of use. He was a prolific, highly acclaimed poet, famous pacifist, and extraordinary friend to nearly everyone he me t. But Kim was given perhaps his father's greatest gift-and greatest challenge-to be his literary executor. Carefully sifting through his father's papers-thousands of poems written on napkins, grocery receipts, letters-Kim follows a copious trail of words matched only by his father's silences. Kim is able to visit his father's life in a deeply personal way and, as a result, beautifully illuminates William Stafford as someone who was unafraid to stare into emptiness and to live a life so fully in the moment that he was able to touch countless lives with a single poem.