If the Wind Could Talk

National Poetry Month. 15

Wyoming wind, 1998

Things the Wind Says
by William Stafford, from Sound of the Ax: Aphorisms and Poems by William Stafford, ed. Vincent Wixon and Paul Merchant

Everything still ought to move.

Of all plants I believe my favorite
is the tumbleweed.

Water will talk if stirred.

There are places in the mountains I am
afraid to tell about, but at night
you can hear me hint about them.

Islands aren’t so much.

I never saw a cloud I didn’t like.

Steam is all right, but I prefer smoke.

I was born in Kansas, but now I
travel all over the world.

I spend my vacations in Texas.

The best job I ever had was with
Sir Francis Drake.

My cousins live in water:  they’re a
slow bunch.

I’ll dance with anyone — royalty, commoners,
but especially refugees. . . .