Reviews of Early Morning

Winner of the 2003 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award

“Into his enigmatic father’s letters, journals, and poetry, Kim Stafford pours his own memories in a language so rich it must be savored in slow draughts.” —Scott Foley, Grass Roots Books & Music, Corvallis, OR

“William Stafford was an oftentimes wondrous poet, and a great teacher. Kim Stafford’s tale of life with his father, of his father’s life, is both an assessment and an act of veneration. Early Morning is intimate, verges on ultimate, touching and illuminating, revealing, of great value.” —William Kittredge

“Compelling glimpses...of the life that gave rise to [Stafford’s] poems.” —The New York Times Book Review

 “[A] remarkable tribute.” —Booklist, starred review

“Early Morning lovingly examines William’s life and legacy from multiple perspectives—as poet, teacher, pacifist, and father—with a discernment and honesty equal to the task of bringing such a formidably complex and sometimes contradictory character to life on the page. On one level a treasury of the elder Stafford’s reflections and aphorisms enriched by the younger one’s insightful recollections, Early Morning also unforgettably portrays a complicated father-son relationship.” —Ruminator Review

“The William Stafford revealed in Early Morning should offer endless inspiration to anyone interested in pursuing the writing life or a life contrary to the often shallow expectations of popular opinion.” —The Daily News (Boston, MA)

“In this fine book, Kim Stafford doesn't biographize his father, nor turn his poems into psychology. Instead he takes complicated things his father said and bravely offers them to us. As a book written by a son warily loving an enigmatic, elusive father, this is a masterpiece."—Robert Bly

“Here is a necessary book for our difficult times, the story of a life that reflects artistic, intellectual, and political integrity…Though William Stafford’s life as a poet and pacifist has been well-documented, this gentle memoir by his son Kim offers a needed perspective on both the private and public life of an important artist.” —Rain Taxi Review of Books

 “A masterful memoir…Early Morning would be a rare and exceptional book in any season, any year. Coming as it does in a time of national crisis, it is needed in the same way victims of scurvy and pellagra need vitamins.” —Bloomsbury Review

“These wonderfully written perspectives and recollections provide rare insight into the character and philosophy of William Stafford and reveal the sources of many of his poems. The pages of this book are rich with passages from Stafford’s poetry and his Daily Writing. Early Morning is a gift, an invaluable resource for all fans, friends and colleagues of William Stafford, for students of his work, for his future biographers, for those interested in the writing process, for those interested in the challenges and struggles, the goals and pleasures of a major American poet making his way through the 20 ^th century.” —Pattiann Rogers