Sherry Chandler » William Stafford
William Stafford
31 October 1966
The question, “Wouldn’t you fight for your country?” begs the real question, which is, “What is the best way to behave here and now to serve your country?” So one answer would be “If it was the right thing to do, I would fight for my country. Now let’s talk about what is the right thing to do.” Or “Wouldn’t you refuse to fight if I asked under wrong conditions to do so, for the sake of your country? So let’s talk about what to do for our counry.”
19 July 1967
Arrows punish a bow.
22 August 1967
Children of heroes have glory for breakfast.
— William Stafford, Every War Has Two Losers (Milkweed Editions, 2003)
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2 Comments
1. Helen Losse replies at 29th June 2006, 9:01 am :
Powerful post. I will link to it.
2. sherry replies at 29th June 2006, 7:33 pm :
Thank you, Helen. William Stafford is a poet whose work I admire. And, unlike Robert Lowell, he was a real conscientious objector during WWII. Stafford served at least part of the war in a work camp in Arkansas and that volume, Every War Has Two Losers, contains an account of a fairly frightening encounter with some local villagers with lynching on their minds. Fortunately, the law showed up in time. So anyway, I’d say the man paid some dues for his convictions.
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