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Staffords Deliberate Ambiguity:

Maybe and Some
Kaysey Price
Two poetic aspects that are often debated as being necessary for a poem to function and
be good are concrete imagery and ambiguity. Containing both concrete imagery as well as
ambiguity seems to be counterproductive or maybe impossible altogether. How can one be
concretely specific as well as simultaneously inviting in multiple meanings? Finding a balance
between the two is something that makes a poet effective.
William Stafford has the ambiguity aspect figured out. However, he is not very concrete.
In fact, Stafford scholars (like Judith Kitchen) have had to analyze his poetry and put together a
special Stafford lexicon in order to pin down some of his more abstract word usages. For
example, when Stafford uses the term cold it can be assumed that he is speaking about death,
God, the ambivalence of the universe, etc., according to Kitchen. Kitchen has gathered this
information by analyzing Staffords use of these abstract terms and the context he places them in
across multiple poems. Does this mean that readers are not meant to understand Staffords single
poems they can only know them by reading the collections they are placed in in their entirety?
Staffords move largely away from concrete imagery is only one example of how he can
be categorized as what I would term an anti-poet or an abstract poet. In Writing the World:
Understanding William Stafford, Kitchen says, [Stafford] was characteristically reluctant to turn
his poetry into a political statement. (59). Kitchen then quotes Stafford himself on the subject:
Another little quirk isolated me, a reluctance to put my writing to work for any cause (59). Is
that what poets do write for a cause? There is usually a reason why a poet writes (their muse),
but is that reason always some greater cause? Stafford seems to think so at least he thinks not

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writing for a cause makes him stand out from the rest. Again Stafford distances himself from the
usual task of the poet, this time through deliberate ambiguity. Staffords ambiguity is not the
usual ambiguity of the poet. Ambiguity may be employed to invoke multiple meanings and
therefore a different experience for each reader, but Stafford seems to utilize it to avoid taking
any stance at all in his writing.
A prominent tact that Stafford employs in his poetry in order to use deliberate ambiguity
and avoid making outright political statements is his inclusion of the words maybe and
some. Maybe and some function as sentence modifiers, which are parts of speech meant to
modify words or phrases and make meaning more specific. Ironically, Stafford has picked out
two modifiers that do not add specificity to meaning. In fact, they end up making the words they
are describing more abstract and ambiguous. These modifiers add ambiguity because they are
ambiguous themselves.
Maybe is defined as possibly, perhaps in the OED, and some is defined as a
certain indeterminate part of something; a portion. Therefore, when placed in front of words or
phrases to modify them, maybe and some end up muddling the meaning of the words rather
than specifying them. For example, maybe we will go to the park turns the declarative
sentence, we will go to the park into an ambiguous statement. Will we go to the park? Maybe,
who knows? Adding some seems less ambiguous and more like the declarer is making sure not
to overgeneralize: some people prefer dogs as pets. Clearly not all people prefer dogs as pets
and saying so would sound ignorant, therefore, the term some is added to acknowledge the
alternative stances that are not directly stated. These syntactical moves are exactly the kinds of
things that some comedians pay attention to for fodder for their jokes. Demetri Martin, in a joke,
says, Sort of is such a harmless thing to say... sort of. It's just a filler. Sort of... it doesn't really

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mean anything. But after certain things, sort of means everything. Like... after I love you... or
You're going to live. Stafford uses maybe the same way Martin uses sort of in the
instances when it is not just a filler, but it means everything.
Kitchen acknowledges that Stafford has an uncertainty in his writing a kind of
questioning: The voice in [Traveling Though the Dark] is surer, less questioning, but the
questions are still there nevertheless (39). Of Someday, Maybe Kitchen writes, the hesitancy of
the title, its refusal to be pinned down or made exact, caries over into the poetry. This book
begins on an almost defensive note (58). While it may seem that Staffords uncertainty is a
defensive maneuver, it cannot be dismissed that his poetry makes a point of being uncertain. Kim
Stafford reinforces his fathers uncertainty in Early Morning when he says that his father,
favored the small, the hidden, the hard-to-pin-down. For certainty, and its anger, can kill even
a little at a time (128). Much of this belief may be rooted in Staffords pacifism. As a Pacifist,
Stafford wanted to encourage a conversation between opposing sides, and any certainty
seemed to be linked to anger in his mind. If one is certain they are correct, they most likely will
not listen to a differing opinion. Stafford wanted to eliminate that sureness in order to keep
communication open; he was always questioning, second-guessing, venturing into new realms of
possibilities.
William Stafford was not one to go with the majority either. Kim writes, The world
honored loud, forceful ways foreign not only to his custom, but more importantly, foreign to his
sense of what the world is trying to be (146). Kitchen also admits, Stafford is a witness for
alternatives for values, a way of thinking as well as a way of living (62). Stafford himself
admits his desire for alternatives to try new things: When I write, I feel like the king of person
who is ready to try all sorts of things (86). Stafford allows himself to open his mind and try new

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things, to experience the now as it is to him, while simultaneously opening his mind to others
perspectives and how the now is for them. Stafford leaves the possibility for alternatives open
by using maybe and some.
Staffords open-mindedness should not be mistaken for agreeing with his enemies or the
opposing perspective. In Writing the Australian Crawl, Stafford slyly says, A poem is a serious
joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu (3). Stafford says that he want[s] the moves to come from
inside the poem, the coercion to be part of the life right there (65). For Stafford poetry is not
about a poet coercing a reader but about a poem coercing a reader. Stafford accomplished this by
simply being a witness to poetry rather than the power-holder. Kim Stafford writes, My fathers
poems, like his letters to me, often speak as a witness to power rather than in the language of the
one with power (134). For Stafford, much of this power resided within the maybe and the
some, within the possibilities, within the alternatives. Staffords openness to that power
(through his use of maybe and some) made him that witness.
Something Stafford took away from his mothers influence was the withholding he
witnessed in her: I also remember her listening without making an overt comment, but
nevertheless having her judgment about some person or some event. Later she would speak
freely about it in a context where it wouldnt hurt the other person (87). Perhaps Staffords
poems are the context where it wouldnt hurt the other person, where Stafford feels free to
speak his judgments. Maybe can certainly be taken sarcastically, in which case there is a
judgment placed on someone with a differing opinion. However, although the judgment is there,
the alternative perspective is still represented by Stafford for the reader.

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Perhaps the closest William Stafford ever came to admitting his deliberate ambiguity was
in an interview with Cynthia Lofsness, published in Writing the Australian Crawl. At the very
end of the interview Stafford feels compelled to add:
I would like to disassociate myself from taking any kind of stance that would imply that
being a writer is assuming a power of guidance or insight or anything like that. Im not
that kind of writer. It seems to me a writer is engaged in adventuring into the language
and all sorts of things occur to him or should occur to him, thats his job; the judging of
these things, the selection of these things, and conduct in light of these things, is
everybodys job. And I dont believe in discipleship or even leadership, or anything like
that. Maybe this is one of the things I get from my parentsa kind of readinessfor
them to accept some things I could see that they couldnt see, and for me to accept some
things they could see that I couldnt see. There was an easy give and take. I remember
when I was a little kid, my father took me out for a hike in the country and we were
looking for a hawk that we thought had landed in a line of cottonwood treesand he
said, Now Billy, look carefully, in these trees you may be able to see the hawk better
than I can. I remember the jolt I felt: could I see the hawk before my father would?
And his tone of voice just said, Maybe you can, maybe you cantgive it a try (113).
Its an exceedingly long quote, but it emphasizes Staffords stance as a poet perfectly and
possibly the moment in his life when he became a suggestive poet rather than a poet with a
Whitman-like YAWP! Stafford recognizes that everyone sees differently, and everyone
experiences the world differently. He does not want to discredit anyones experience, but he does
want to express his own feelings and judgments. These two things are exceedingly difficult to do
simultaneously, and I suspect doing both of these things is at the heart of Pacifism, as well as at
the heart of Staffords poetry. Stafford wishes to invite a conversation with his poetry, a
conversation with his enemies, a conversation with himself; Stafford invites this conversation
through his use of the words maybe and some.
Firstly, maybe and some are useful terms to use while making an argument the two
modifiers show that whoever is trying to make a point is not ignorantly overgeneralizing or
disregarding an alternative opinion. While it may seem like couching statements makes them
weaker, it in fact makes them stronger. In one example of Staffords use of maybe and some,

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Stafford uses these terms to suggest alternatives to the names he provides: Someone like
Mohammed? Someone like Jesus? (8) and or maybe the Lone Ranger (12). Stafford is namedropping some big figures here, but he does not name them with an all-knowing air or certainty.
In fact, the first two figures are followed by question marks making them seem indecisive or at
least questioning which of them is right. They are suggestions: Someone like, or maybe.
Stafford doesnt want to leave anyone out when he name-drops. Rather, he is getting at the
essence of these larger-than-life figures. It is not important that the person the speaker is
referring to be Mohammed or be Jesus; it is important that they be like those figures. In this way,
Staffords maybe and some become words that signal an unmentioned simile, a way to get at
the connotation of a person or an image rather than a denotation of it.
Along the lines of Stafford getting at the essence of people through suggestive namedropping, he gets at the essence of situations by suggesting them with maybe and some:
Maybe someone comes to the door and says Repent (1-2) then, Except, maybe that someone
says, Ive got a deal / for you. And you listen, because thats how / youre trained they told
you, Always hear both sides (8-10). In this way Staffords poem Easter Morning, is
suggesting two alternative instances in the same poem, and both are signaled by maybe, as in,
it could go either way. In line with this situational ambiguity, the person coming to the door is
just someone. They are not named. They are not even called a Republican or a Democrat
or a girl scout, just someone. In this way, the poem remains open to interpretation, and the
reader merely gets the gist of the situation: the right person could come to the door or the wrong
person could come to the door. It is not up to Stafford or the speaker to name the right or wrong
person; it is left to the reader. However, it is important that the reader, Always hear both
sides either way.

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Stafford initiates a strange situation in his poem Assuming Control when he writes,
Sometimes I breathe (1). This line has a different nuance than his other situation suggestions
like Maybe someone comes to the door. Of course sometimes you breathe; its how humans
stay alive. However, the line continues, Sometimes I breathe and / the time called Now
intrudes (Assuming Control 1-2). While it seems like a strange line to say, Sometimes I
breathe, it makes sense in the context of the following line sometimes when the speaker
breathes Now intrudes. Now doesnt always intrude only when the speaker breathes.
Assuming Control also includes a third nuance of the word maybe that Stafford uses
in his poems the possibly sarcastic one. The third stanza states:
Have you noticed? I notice
that people observe how stupid
I am, how obsolete my views and practices,
and my whole generation, how we enjoy
superficial styles, arts, manners.
I listen to these discoveries. I read
about my weakness. How could I
have missed the obvious truth so long?
Generously, my critics lift examples:
There! And look at this. I see it;
they have a point. But its hard to give up
what used to please me. Maybe in time I can (17-28).
Depending on where maybe is stressed, it could imply a sarcastic tone. With the stress in the
first syllable may-be the word takes on an air of sarcasm. However, with the stress on the

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second syllable may-be the word feels more hopeful. With the addition of maybe to line 28
the meaning could go either way. The speaker could be sarcastically saying, yeah, sure, maybe
Ill change or hopefully I learn how to change, and for Stafford and the person he was it could
go either way. At times he is a sarcastic poet; at other times he is sincere.
Staffords nuanced sarcasm carries over into his use of the word some. For example, in
Some Remarks When Richard Hugo Came Stafford writes:
Some war, I bomb their towns from five
miles high, the flower of smoke and fire
so far there is no sound. No cry
disturbs the calm through which we fly.

Some day, a quiet day, I watch

a grassy field in wind, the waves
forever bounding past and gone.
Friends call: I cannot look away

And my life had already happened:

Some saved-up feeling caught, held on,
and shook me. Long-legged grass raced out;
a film inside my head unwound.

The bodies I had killed began to scream (164).

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Staffords use of some in lines 1, 5, and 10 could literally mean any: any war, any day, and
any saved-up feeling, which has its own implications as in, these things happen in any and all
wars. However, it can also be taken sarcastically: Some war, Some day, Some saved-up memory.
If an emphasis is placed on some it is suggestive of a Mid-western colloquialism, similar to
saying, Thats interesting. There is an implied sarcasm a nice way for the speaker to imply to
the reader that the situation was not good. The extreme dislike for war is not only supported by
Staffords pacifism but the fact that he uses one of the loudest lines of his poetic career in order
to end the poem: The bodies I had killed began to scream.
Two more nuances of Staffords maybe come in his poem titled Maybe:
Maybe (its a fear), maybe
someone decides. Maybe it takes
only one. Maybe the end begins.
Maybe it has begun.

It runs through the stages fast,

and they all respond well
and its over. Then an explorer
comes.

What could they have done?

They could have tried harder.
They could have become meaner.
But maybe nothing it happened.

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The explorer turns over a stone.

Maybe those who sang
were the lucky ones (191).
In the first line Maybe (its a fear) Stafford seems to be saying that maybe is a fear as a
side-note with his use of parentheses. He seems to be implying that people fear maybe for all
of its implications and possibilities. Later, in the final stanza Stafford writes, But maybe
nothing it happened, as if to say there is no maybe in the past, in history. If cruelty happened
there is no use dwelling on the what ifs and the maybes. Maybe only holds power in the
potential of the future. Which leads to the final nuance of Staffords maybe: hope.
In Yellow Cars Stafford writes, Think / of that hope: Someone will / like me,
maybe (3-5). There may be several nuances within maybe for Stafford, but hope has to be
one of them. Stafford was clearly frustrated with people who couldnt see the multiple sides of a
situation. In Old Blue the speaker states, Steve, remember your refusal to go along on / those
deals when you all opposed me? you had / your chance (8-10) and concludes, For anyone
who ever needs / the person they slighted, this is my address: Gone (13-14). People who slight
others and their opinions are slighting hope, and Stafford advises to forget them: Gone.
Similarly, Staffords idea that Smokes ways a good way (Smoke 1) echoes
Staffords maybe. In Smoke the speaker states:
Smoke? Into the mountains I guess
a long time ago. Once here, yes,
everywhere. Say anything? No.

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I saw Smoke, slow traveler, reluctant
but sure. Hesitant sometimes, yes,
because thats the way things are.

Smoke never doubts though:

some new move will appear.
Wherever you are, there is another door (4-12).
Smoke is thoughtful like maybe. Maybe implies that the speaker will think about the
consequences and then decide a course of action; it is hesitant sometimes like smoke. Does
maybe Say anything? No. Staffords Maybe is a smoke screen which spreads everywhere
like smoke and eventually some new moveappear[s] / Wherever you are, [if you are thinking,
considering, open to maybe] there is another door.

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Works Cited
Kitchen, Judith. Writing the World Understanding William Stafford. Corvallis: Oregon State UP,
1999. Print.
"maybe, adv., n., and adj." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2015. Web. 10
December 2015.
"some, pron., adj.1, adv., and n.1." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2015. Web.
10 December 2015.
Stafford, Kim Robert. Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford. Saint Paul:
Graywolf, 2002. Print.
Stafford, William. Assuming Control. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998. 2223. Print.
-------. Easter Morning. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998. 6. Print.
-------. Its heavy to drag, this big sack The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998.
36. Print.
-------. Maybe. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998. 190-191. Print.
-------. Old Blue. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998. 236. Print.
-------. Over the Mountains. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998. 184. Print.
-------. Some Remarks When Richard Hugo Came. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf
Press, 1998. 164. Print.
-------. Smoke. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998. 154-155. Print.
-------. Writing the Australian Crawl. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1978. Print.
-------. Yellow Cars. The Way It Is. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 1998. 193. Print.