You are invited to read Denise Low-Weso's moving essay about her relationship with William Stafford as part of our "Chapter One" series. It begins:
William Stafford was more than a mentor to me. He was also my poetry father figure. Born within months of my father and a few miles in Kansas, they blurred into one archetype. Both spoke in the laconic Great Plains dialect with long pauses, detailed descriptions of landmarks, and elastic diphthongs for emphasis. Both had a steely morality not obscured by agreeable manners. Stafford taught me how to be a Kansan—with its mix of self-deprecating humor, goodwill, social responsibility, and rigor—as well as how to parse a poetic line.
The entire essay is HERE.
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