"How the Real Bible is Written," "At Fourth and Main in Liberal, Kansas, 1932," "Ceremony" and "Adults Only" Poems by William Stafford

In How the Real Bible is Written, William Stafford writes about something that regular people do, such as painting their houses. He writes about how the paint on a house "goes on" and compares it to, "how the real Bible is written." Stafford somehow relates the line, "there are/too many turns before the turn," to the line, "how the real Bible is written..." I read the first line as, "there are/too many turns before the real turn." I like the way Stafford describes "how the real Bible is written," in such detail, "...downward through the pages, carved, hacked, and molded, like the faces of saints..."---very nice. I also like his use of rhyme, "under the new paint now old/and begin to know more/...I walk through this town..."

In At Fourth and Main in Liberal, Kansas, 1932, Stafford gives importance to the paper and the ribbon---the time it takes to prepare a gift, "that the giving is what is important, the paper, the ribbon/the holding of breath and surprise, the friends around." He also writes that what's most important is the "surprise" of receiving a gift and "the friends around." Again, in this poem, Stafford writes about what people do, the giving and the receiving of gifts on special occasions. In addition, I like how he uses rhyme in the same line, "that the giving is what is important, the paper, the ribbon." It has a nice rhythm to it.

In Ceremony, I noticed that Stafford uses the images of "the river" and "the ocean" in the lines, "That was something the ocean would remember/and the river richer by a kind of marriage." He has nice images in this poem, "I saw me in the current flowing through the land/rolling, touching roots../...in the woods an owl started quavering." After reading this poem, I experienced a flowing feeling---so many currents, rivers and oceans, especially from the last line, "In the river my blood flowed on."

In Adults Only, Stafford compares men (I assume he's talking about men) in strip bars to animals waiting for their prey, "Animals own a fur world/that night when the wild woman danced/in the giant cage we found we were all in/at the state fair." In the line, "But we have to witness for ourselves what comes for us," I suspect that Stafford is talking about pleasure here. What else is there for them in a strip bar but pleasure.