to William Stafford
the earth asserts what matters, the things that place requires; say, that birds declare their presence, to breathe, and in so doing, to define, the word is, their territory, to set a limit to their dancing to their song of what their song describes, actually, the facts as they see them, facts as they are, the wood itself persisting, and so insisting on this act of self, this present.
12 September 1974