These are the poems of an enraptured heart and mind, of clear eyes and ears doing the soul's seeing and hearing. They vividly prove the unchanged function and relevance of poetry: to crystallize unsayable, non-verbal inner states, and to sanctify every world it touches. The Voluptuary brings us necessary visionary news of a profound sanity rooted in ecstatic love for creation. --Li-Young Lee

Here a reader encounters a voice steeped in the music of the English language, a voice intent on the musical possibilities of poetry's open and nonce forms. In these pages, one finds a voice indebted to the power of metaphor-the capacity of metaphor to transform both language itself and the way we humans see this world.

"We Belong in History "celebrates William Stafford's life as a writer, a teacher, and United States Poet Laureate by presenting excellent student writing inspired by his work. An introduction by Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen, a selection of Stafford's work, and three sets of lesson plans written by teachers augment this collection. This allows teachers everywhere to inspire their own students to write in response to Stafford's work. Teachers, student writers, Stafford-admirers, and poetry readers will enjoy "We Belong in History"'s celebration of the joy of writing.