Religious Bibliography of William Stafford

I just compiled a bibliography of works by and related to William Stafford regarding religion and spirituality. Whether or not we see William Stafford as a religious poet, it can't be ignored that he wrote a lot about it, and that many readers turn to his work when thinking of religious and spiritual themes. View the…

The Pilgrimage of Just Peace in the Poetry of William Stafford

On 29 October 2015, I was invited to give a talk at the Bethany Theological Seminary Presidential Forum on the theme of pilgrimage. I decided to take the opportunity to discuss Stafford again, but in a way that isn't always thought about. Here are my remarks: William Stafford, twentieth century American poet, was a conscientious…

Don’t be a Writer, Just Write

William Stafford once wrote, “My aim is not to be a writer, but to write” (from the book Sound of the Ax). I’ve thought of myself as a writer for much of my life. The tricky part is how to make writing, actually writing, the first priority of my life. Last week, I went on…

Photography Experiments

I’m watching Art Wolfe’s episode of “Tales by Light” on Netflix. I recently saw an online lecture by Wolfe on Creative Live talking about using long exposures to make abstract images. I like his approach to nature photography as fine art. And so I went out and tried his technique. The photo in this post…

Write three lines in a notebook everyday.

In 2011, I heard the poet Naomi Shihab Nye speak at Earlham College. She said two things I still remember: everyone needs to read Every War has Two Losers, a collection of William Stafford’s writings on peace (including excerpts from his daily writing), and to write three lines in a notebook everyday. Here’s a video…