Ode To William Stafford
I can see him spread out on the couch
pad of paper in one hand, pencil in the other
a far cry from the camp where he’d spent time
as a conscientious objector during the war
in high school, two of my friends
counseled male students about selective service
and how they could register as objectors
there was no war on — or at least no draft
but my friends were eager to tell their fellow students
that resistance was possible, even necessary
really, though, we had very little at stake
we were middle class white kids
none of us would be wearing a uniform
unless we chose to
not so in Stafford’s day, when the arm of the state
could pluck you from your kitchen table
drop you in a European field
before you’d had time to put down your cereal spoon
when to say no was a criminal act
because everyone else was saying yes
planting their Victory Gardens
buying their War Bonds
never asking how they’d gotten there in the first place
“Wouldn’t you have fought Hitler?” is too easy a question
a better one is: “What could we have done earlier
so Germany had no need for a Hitler in the first place?”
this is what I think of when I think of him
there on the couch, pencil and paper in hand
trying through his writing to fix our broken world
2 March 2013
Auburn, AL
Comments