Reviews of The Way It Is

“William Stafford’s quiet presence in the landscape of American poetry in my lifetime has been a kind of continuing reassurance whose value always seemed to me beyond question. Even those of us who have read him for years are almost certain to be surprised now, I think, and repeatedly surprised, at the range and freshness of his gift, its responsiveness to the small, the plain, the apparently usual. I think his work as a whole will go on surprising us, growing as we recognize it, bearing witness in plain language to the holiness of the heart’s affections which he seemed never to doubt. A treasure that he has left us.” —W.S. Merwin

“Stafford left behind a body of work that represents some of the finest poetry written during the second half of this century…. Highly recommended for all collections” —Library Journal

“This collection remains airborne and surprising. Such a vast number of Stafford poems in one place illuminates his integrity as a poet living in what apparently was a constant state of innocence and encounter.” —POETRY

“William Stafford’s generous and exquisitely produced The Way It Is would be my selection for a book to carry forth into the new millennium.” —Hungry Mind Review

“Like Stafford himself, this collection, in refuting the conventional wisdom about writing, entertains as it instructs.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“The Way It Is gets it right. It is a book that every Kansan should own and cherish. For Stafford’s verse offers us the great benediction of being: poetry as a gift to behold and bless and live and sing. With this new collection in hand, we can finally take in the breadth of that gift: In Stafford’s end lies our beginning.” —Wichita Eagle

“This folksy, funny sense of a loving circle surrounding him makes Stafford’s work warm and accessible.” —American Book Review

“The essential William Stafford.” —Minnesota Monthly

“In both his poetry and his prose, Stafford engages us to read with our ‘brights full on.’” —Harvard Review

“What a rich and various gift William Stafford gave us every day of his life.” —Agni