William Stafford

Hello Pamela Rogers

THE LITTLE GIRL BY THE FENCE AT SCHOOL



Grass that was moving found all shades of brown,
moved them along, flowed autumn away
galloping southward where summer had gone.
And that was the morning someone’s heart stopped
and all became still. A girl said, “Forever? ”
And the grass. “Yes. Forever.” While the sky —
The sky — the sky — the sky.

Nobert Hirschhorn is preoccupied with the apparent, incapable of appreciating the spaces of the mind which
may guide us to universal truths. You cannot blame him; for urban life with it's trivialities, ultimately constricts-
builds walls of concrete & glass which keeps in facts but excludes the Truth.

Can someone tell me the name of the poem by William Stafford that someone on Oregon Art Beat recently referred to as having helped her during a time of grief? It ended with the sky, the sky, the sky. The title was something about a little girl and a fence for something? I've not located it as yet. Thanks for any help.

Recently watched Oregon Art Beat where they featured William Stafford. Loved, loved his poetry.....it's how I think. It's inspiring me to get back into writing myself.

William Stafford's Traveling Through the Dark: I am surprised how the poem is always misread. The doe 'had stiffened already, almost cold', i.e, several hours along since death, which makes it impossible for a fawn to be still alive. The whole premise of the poem is thus false, and the dilemma inauthentically presented. Stafford was a man who understood nature and creatures, and so I have to wonder what was he thinking in creating this bit of fiction.