Ask me: 100 essential poems of William Stafford

"In our time there has been no poet who revived human hearts and spirits more convincingly than William Stafford." —Naomi Shihab Nye


Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life.
—from "Ask Me"

In celebration of the poet's centennial, Ask Me collects one hundred of William Stafford's essential poems. As a conscientious objector during World War II, while assigned to Civilian Public Service camps Stafford began his daily writing practice, a lifelong early-morning ritual of witness. His poetry reveals the consequences of violence, the daily necessity of moral decisions, and the bounty of art. Selected and with a note by Kim Stafford, Ask Me presents the best from a profound and original American voice.