Singer Come From Afar by Kim Stafford


Singer Come From Afar
Title : Singer Come From Afar
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1597098884
ISBN-10 : 9781597098885
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 136
Publication : Published April 6, 2021

The five sections in Kim Stafford’s Singer Come from Afar hold poems that summon war and peace, pandemic struggles, Earth imperatives, a seeker’s spirit, and forge kinship. The former poet laureate of Oregon, Stafford has shared poems from this book in libraries, prisons, on reservations, with veterans, immigrants, homeless families, legislators, and students in schools. He writes for hidden heroes, resonant places, and for our chance to converge in spite of differences. Poems like “Practicing the Complex Yes” and “The Fact of Forgiveness” engineer tools for connection with the self, the community, and the “It is a given you have failed . . . [but] the world can’t keep its treasures from you.” For the early months of the pandemic, Stafford wrote and posted a poem for challenge and comfort each day on Instagram and published a series of chapbooks that traveled hand to hand to far places—to Norway, Egypt, and India. He views the writing and sharing of poetry as an essential act of testimony to sustain tikkun olam, the healing of the world. May this book be the hidden spring you seek.

Singer Come From Afar Reviews

  • Mindy Hardwick

    A collection of poetry for our times. I plan to share with my high school creative writing class as jump off poems for writing our own about love, loss, the pandemic, and current social justice issues.

  • Bill Mayer

    These are wonderful, wonderful poems by a man who not only knows how to write, but how to see.

  • Nichole

    I enjoyed this collection of poetry. There was a rurality to it that I think readers in my area with enjoy. It's going into a local little free library.

  • Suzy Harris

    Always a pleasure to read Kim’s poetry. Often balm for a troubled world.

  • Michael

    Poems by a gentle American, full of echoes of wonder, grief and compassion, urging us to connect with the world around us and with each other. Deeply touching, and so needed now.

    A book that belongs in the rare category "I wish everyone could read this book."