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 …