William Stafford Birthday Celebration
Central Library 801 SW 10th Ave, 248-5234
7pm

In a poem titled, "Thinking About Being Called Simple by a Critic," William Stafford wrote, "...Who but a friend/could give so sternly what the sky/feels for everyone but few learn to/cherish? In the dark with the truth/I began the sentence of my life/and found it so simple there was no way/back into qualifying my thoughts/with irony or anything like that..."

Stafford's are poems I want to tear from the book, to tack to my wall, paste on the mirror, to show me a truth beyond the surface of my own face.

This week Portland commemorates Stafford's birthday. A local author with an international reputation, he passed away in 1993. His poems remain as testimony to his generosity and spirit, using direct, sincere language glowing with big hearted, loving inquiry.

In the introduction to his collection, An Oregon Message, Stafford writes, "Each poem is a miracle that has been invited to happen. But these words, after they come, you look at what's there. Why these? Why not some calculated careful contenders? Because these chosen ones must survive as they were made, by the reckless impulse of a fallible but susceptible person. I must be willingly fallible in order to deserve a place in the realm where miracles happen."

This year, our remembrance of Stafford comes quickly after the passing of another local author and literary legend, Ken Kesey. Currently, the library has 70 holds waiting for the 40 copies of Kesey's Sometimes A Great Notion. Powell's is sold out--testimony to readers' devotion.

Kesey's death, unfortunately, came in the wake of the tragedy of September 11th, and the lives lost. September 11th, we're told by media experts, has led to the "death of irony." Maybe that's true, though more likely irony is always close at hand, a quick and unaccountable way of slipping through commentary. But with so many ready reminders that life is short, with the media imagining the end of irony, longing for directness and passion, Stafford--an advocate of peace, a conscientious objector who recognized that "justice will take us millions of intricate moves,"--becomes ever more relevant in reminding us to be open hearted, to be willingly fallible, to recognize and honor each "miracle invited to happen."