Kim Stafford is the founding director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College, and author of a dozen books of poetry and prose. From 2018 to 2020 he served as Oregon's Poet Laureate, and he has taught writing in Italy, Scotland, Mexico, and Bhutan.

Books by Kim Stafford:

Other poems on the web by Kim Stafford:
Three poems
Two poems
"In Quarantine"
Four poems
"Shelter in Place"

Kim Stafford's Website.

About Singer Come from Afar:

"Poetry began as song, and in the lyrics of Kim Stafford we still hear the singing. A keen listener to voices human and wild, he writes of prisoners and refugees, toads and wrens, warriors and peacemakers, orcas and rivers. His guiding impulse is compassion. He urges us to defy 'the camp of anger' through acts of kindness. He assures us that Nature holds no grudges. Even 'in the era of stormy weather,' bees gather nectar, birds weave nests, seeds sprout, and new life emerges. Here is a bard of small creatures and gentle gestures who believes that art can help heal the wounds we've inflicted on Earth, our fellow species, and one another, and that conviction shines through every page of this big-hearted book."
—Scott Russell Sanders

"I love this book. Kim Stafford writes from a deep well of gratitude and human goodness. Some of his poems are furious, some are sly and funny, some are simply beautiful, and all create a space for readers to catch their breath and reflect on the glories of this lovely, reeling planet and the sins against it. What greater gift could a poet give a worried, weary world?"
—Kathleen Dean Moore

"'Be home here in beauty and bounty,' writes Kim Stafford, in the poem 'Revising Genesis,' from his newest collection Singer Come from Afar: 'make Earth / your wise guide, each creature teaching miracles of being / in wing and song.' And this is a collection of bright wings and wild songs, of home and history and place and gentle invitation. Yet don't think this gentleness doesn't stand shoulder to shoulder with a fierce commitment to peace and justice with a deep and abiding moral vision. Truly, Kim Stafford is a singer, a seer, a prophet helping us write anew our stories of creation."
—Joe Wilkins