John Stafford’s Poem Called “Poetry” Makes Us See

Last updated on: February 24, 2017 at 6:22 am by Molly Wingate

John Stafford’s Poem Called “Poetry” Makes Us See 2017-02-23T18:25:42-06:00 Molly Wingate

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John Stafford was a poet, a Quaker, a pacifist and much more. Every War Has Two Losers, edited by his son Kim Stafford, brings together previously unpublished poems, journal entries and prose pieces that speak to me across the decades. “Poetry” does the job a good poem always does of helping me see the world differently, and in this case, respond differently.

Please enjoy this poem, and see if at the end you can eat that bread.

Poetry by John Stafford

Its door opens near. It’s a shrine

by the road, it’s a flower in the parking lot

of The Pentagon, it says, “Look around,

listen. Feel the air.” It interrupts

international telephone lines with a tune.

When traffic lines jam, it gets out

and dances on the bridge. If great people

get distracted by fame they forget

this essential kind of breathing

and they die inside their gold shell.

When caravans cross deserts

it is the secret treasure hidden under the jewels.

Sometimes commanders take us over, and they

try to impose their whole universe,

how to succeed by daily calculation:

I can’t eat that bread.

Another of Stafford’s peace poems can be read here.

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