With Kit, Age 7, At The Beach Poem by William Stafford

life is ocean of agitated wave; here have to swim ceaseless to favors or adverse of stream The same rule of life for everyone, big or small, is here on earth

IF he thought of Kit, he would not swim, maturity prevented him from swimming in a stormy ocean BUT he enjoyed as Kit the absolute vista, those waves raced far and cold. He showed that he could swim excellently. A mother would never leave her child 7 years old alone to swim in the dangerous deap ocean in that stormy weather. He was showing off. and he did not think further. OR Kit was an imaginative boy to boast in this poem.

Again, it amazes me how much people like to assume without knowing what they are assuming about. Some of these comments treat William Stanford as if he were alive and able to read their comments. Well, guess what? He’s been “a moulderin’ in the grave” since August 28,1993. Too bad for those who know and love really well written poetry. He can teach us a lot. In fact, he was a poetry professor and poet laureate in Oregon for many years.

Kit is his daughter. He was reassuring her that he would swim as far as he had to In order to save her if she should be swept out to sea and a certain drowning for a 7 year old. It amazes me how some readers try to find some deep, metaphysical meaning in his poems. He reminds us in “A Ritual We Should Read to Each Other” that the signals we should give to each other should be clear, forthright, and that “awake people should be awake.” What’s so hard to understand about that?

We have to nourish the imagination of a child in the moments we share. If not, the child's mind will grow away from us. When facing the ocean with a child, we can't just stand there. It's a time to take the child along to where our imagination has ranged.

'How far could you swim, Daddy, in such a storm? ' 'As far as was needed, ' I said, and as I talked, I swam. very fine poem. tony

Ocean's view! Muse of the cold. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.