thin green spaces from eden

somewhere in the recesses of my mind i knew that william stafford (1914-1993) was poet laureate.  what i didn't remember was that he was poet laureate from oregon, specifically my own back yard of lake oswego.  walking the area in and around foothills park, my friend and i discovered the "stafford stones" on which the city has printed some of his poetry.  stafford was born in kansas and eventually ended up teaching at lewis & clark college in 1948.  when interviewed about his writing process, he said, "i keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know, whatever the topic or impulse which comes.  i follow it trustingly.  and i don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo or of its petering out either.  it is just going steadily along."  he lived in lake oswego until his death at age 79.  his last poem, the morning of august 28, 1993, he wrote simply, "you don't have to prove anything, my mother said, just be ready for what God sends."  enjoying this same river, i am glad that God sent william stafford to be here and appreciate the green for a while before returning to eden.