poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

I love the mystery woven through Wm. Stafford's poem--he touches deep places in my psyche and illuminates the foibles of human nature like the magician onstage in spotlight with one final trick.

I heard this read on NPR two days ago and had to see it for myself. I have long been haunted by the tiny missteps in human interaction that accumulate until much or all is lost, simply because we do not acknowledge and fix our direction at the moment these occur. Stafford brings this subtle tendency to light by giving it dark corporeality. May we be vigilant in our interactions, so we are not led astray by unconscious assumptions, feelings, beliefs!