William Stafford Memorial Poetry Rendezvous - April 4 Registration Deadline

This is taken from a brochure... please forgive the layout... but the information is valid.

William Stafford Memorial Poetry Rendezvous

April 10 –12, 2008
Hutchinson, Kansas
Newton, Kansas
Flying W Ranch, Clements, Kansas

William Stafford Memorial Poetry Rendezvous

April 10 – 12, 2008

Thursday, April 10, Hutchinson

1:15 p.m. Workshop
Kim Stafford and the HCC
Creative Writing class

7:00 p.m. Poetry & Music
Location: Hutchinson Arts Center,
405 N Washington
Kim Stafford, Jim French & Company

Friday, April 11, Newton

12:00 p.m. Poetry & Pizza @ the
Newton Public Library
Kim Stafford, “Poetry in the Family”
Location:
Newton Public Library,
720 N. Oak

William Stafford was born in Hutchinson,
Kansas, in 1914. He received B.A. and M.A.
degrees from the University of Kansas, and his
PhD from the University of Iowa. He won the
National Book Award and served as Poetry
Consultant to the Library of Congress, now
Poet Laureate. His dozens of books include the
major collections, Stories That Could Be True
and The Way It Is. He taught at Lewis & Clark
College for over thirty years and died at his
home in Lake Oswego, Oregon in 1993.

Kim Stafford has authored numerous books,
including Having Everything Right Early
Morning: Remembering My Father. He has
served as director of the Northwest Writing
Institute at Lewis & Clark College and as a
writing teacher and workshop leader over much
of the continent. A poet, writer, composer and
musician, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

Saturday, April 12, Flying W Ranch,
Clements, Kansas*

William Stafford Memorial Poetry Rendezvous

Kim Stafford & Company

10:30 a.m. Informal meeting of poets & writers
Denise Low, State Poet Laureate,
Kim Stafford, and friends

1:00 p.m. William Stafford & Kansas
Kim Stafford

2:30 p.m. William Stafford: His Art & Influence
Moderator: Tom Averill
Panelists: Harley Elliott, Amy Fleury, Steven Hind, Jonathan Holden, Denise Low, Kevin Rabas, Bill Sheldon, and Kim Stafford

3:30 or 4:00p.m. Audience/Panelists
Conversation
5:00 p.m. Supper at the Ranch (Josh Hoy, chef)
6:30 p.m. Campfire Music and Poetry:
Kim Stafford, Anne Wilson, Jim
Hoy & Company

*The Flying W Ranch is located 7 miles
southwest of Elmdale on Highway 50. Take the
Clements turnoff, onto Road G, 2.4 miles to the
“Bunkhouse” on the east side of the road.

About William Stafford

William Stafford’s words are both good
poetry and good medicine, antidotes to the
deadening effects of vaunted posturing in life
and language. The poet Louis Simpson said
of Stafford, “He is a poet of the people in the
deepest and most meaningful sense.”

His “common sense,” as unpretentious
clarity is often called, clears the air, as in
“Keepsakes,” on a too familiar cliché: “Some
haystacks don’t even have any needle.” There
are the quiet stunners such as “Freedom,”
proclaiming that “Most of the world are living
by / creeds too odd, chancy, and habit-forming
/ to be worth arguing about by reason.” In its
closing he suggests the reader, “wake up
before other people,” as a way to liberty from
herd reflexes of every stripe.

This is not to imply that Stafford takes his
function without a sense of humor. He sides
with Aunt Mabel who says about the
“Senator” who “talked war,” “‘He’s a brilliant
man,/ but we didn’t elect him that much.’” He
can stop us with a smile in “Religion Back
Home” where the insinuated motto too often
seems to be, “Our Father Who art in Heaven /
can lick their Father Who art in Heaven.” His
is a tenacious striving for authenticity. What
is to be sought from a trip across Kansas at
night “past the town where I was born”?
“Once you cross a land like that you own your
face more.”

William Stafford

Memorial Poetry Rendezvous

For many poets, and readers in general,
William Stafford is the unofficial Dean of
Kansas Poetry, and on Saturday, April 12,
2008, at the Flying W Ranch southwest of
Elmdale just off U.S. Highway 50 (2.4 miles
from the Clements turnoff), a gathering of
poets, including Bill’s son Kim Stafford
from Oregon, will celebrate the gifts and
influences of one of the great voices of
twentieth century American poetry.

You are invited to attend the gathering
and join in. Kim Stafford will speak at 1:00

p.m. preceding a panel of poets and writers,
to be followed by an open exchange
between panel and audience. Many Stafford
poems will be given voice, and following a
ranch supper, the evening will continue in
celebration with campfire music and
conversation. Admission is free; however,
an evening meal will be available for a
charge. Books by both Staffords and the
panelists will be available for sale.
Sponsored by:

Hutchinson/Reno Arts and

Humanities Council (HRAH)

Center for Great Plains Studies,

Emporia State University

Center for Kansas Studies,

Washburn University

Hutchinson Community College


Registration Form

Please fill out and detach the registration form below and return it by April 4 to:

Steven Hind, 503 Monterey Pl., Hutchinson, Kansas 67502 (620) 662-2292 Shind4444@aol.com

NAME(S): ______________________________________ ________________________________

ADDRESS: ______________________________________ _______________________________

___ I will attend but not partake of the evening meal

___ I will partake of the evening meal (pulled pork tacos and all the fixin’s)

$10.00 per person X _____# in my party = $_____________

___ I will provide my own lawn or camp chairs ___ I wish to be provided with a chair(s)

(Please enclose a check payable to HRAH for the evening meal.)

PLEASE RETURN THIS FORM BY APRIL 4, 2008

________________
Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

________________
Check http://www.hutchchamber.com/community/calendar.cfm for a detailed list of events in the Hutchinson area.