Wild Honey, Tough Salt offers a prismatic view of Earth citizenship, where we must now be ambidextrous. The book takes a stern look inward calling for sturdy character and supple spirit, and a bold look outward seeking ways to engage grief trouble. The book begins with poems that witness a buoyant life in a difficult world: wandering New Orleans in a trance, savoring the life of artist Tove Jansson, reading the fine print on the Mexican peso and the Scottish five-pound note. Clues to untapped energy lie everywhere by the lens of poetry. The book then moves to considerations of the worst in us-torture and war: how to recruit a child soldier? How to be married to the heartless guard? What to say to your child who is enamored by bullets? In the third section, the book offers a spangle of poems blessing earth: wren song, bud growth, river's eager way with obstacles. And the final section offers poems of affection: infant clarities of home, long marriage in dog years, a consoling campfire in the yard when all seems lost. The book will soften your trouble, and give you spirit for the days ahead.

About the Author
Kim Stafford directs the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College. He is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Muses Among Us and Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford. His most recent books are 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared, and Wind on the Waves: Stories from the Oregon Coast. His poems have appeared in The Atlantic, Harpers, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Sun, and other magazines. He has taught writing in dozens of schools and community centers, and in Scotland, Italy, and Bhutan. He currently serves as Oregon's poet laureate.

Reviews

"Kim Stafford is the most humane poet going, devotedly writing every day, sharing encouragement and generous care everywhere. His eloquent lines, so deeply attentive to each moment, shimmer with breathtaking leaps and humble wisdom. They will help you live. Especially now." -Naomi Shihab Nye

"Wild Honey, Tough Salt demonstrates Kim Stafford's remarkable talent for coming to the heart. These poems rise beautifully and naturally from their settings, whether a morning in a forest, or inside an ancient myth, or high on a ridge above Big Basin. Wild Honey, Tough Salt contains poems of quest, reconciliation, and joy, offering the reader enlightening variations on the essence of heart and self in communion. 'Everything spoke, and I was / nothing but listening.'" -Pattiann Rogers, Burroughs Medal winner for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry

"Stafford's work reads like an invitation to citizenship, stewardship, and self. This is poetry that asks nothing and everything of us. That accepts and loves us, asks us to rise simply by paying attention." - Tina Ontiveros of Klindt's Booksellers for NW Book Lovers

Kim Stafford's reading at Annie Bloom's Books

Book Information
ISBN 9781597098960
Author Kim Stafford
Format Paperback
Page Count 100
Imprint Red Hen Press
Publisher Red Hen Press
Weight(grams) 181g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 152mm * 8mm