william stafford

William Stafford (1914–1993) was born in Kansas and earned his BA and MA at the University of Kansas. He was drafted into the military in 1941, but as a conscientious objector he instead was sent to the Civilian Public Service camps and did work in forestry and soil conservation. He earned his PhD at the University of Iowa in 1954. His first book of poetry, Traveling Through the Dark (1962), earned the National Book Award in 1963. In 1970, Stafford was named consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now known as poet laureate.

At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border

“At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border” was written in 1975 and included in the 1998 collection The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems. It reflects William Stafford’s lifelong pacifist beliefs.

This is the field where the battle did not happen,

where the unknown soldier did not die.

This is the field where grass joined hands,

where no monument stands,

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and the only heroic thing is the sky.

Birds fly here without any sound,

unfolding their wings across the open.

No people killed—or were killed—on this ground

hallowed by neglect and an air so tame

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that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.

(1975)