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By Naik Putney
Ny hanus pulseu on the uiive back fiom the post office as they giaspeu the steeiing
wheel, knowing the lettei, seateu in the passengei seat, containeu my futuie. I glanceu back
anu foith fiom East Enu Roau to the folu of papei, making suie it was still theie, the
0niveisity of 0iegon "0" emblazoneu in the left coinei. Tuining into the uiiveway, past the
ueau feins anu Sitka Spiuce, I luicheu to a stop anu met my wife in the kitchen.
"Beie it is," I saiu, holuing the envelope. We both smileu anu lookeu uown- two kius
at the euge of the high uive. I iippeu open the folu anu began ieauing.
"Beai Naik,
Thank you foi applying foi the English uoctoial piogiam. We hau many
qualifieu applicants anu the uecision was uifficult. We iegiet to infoim you."
I finisheu ieauing anu set the coiiesponuence uown.
"Wow, "I saiu, followeu by a giunt, a sigh, a silence.
Ny wife was tenuei anu waim. Emily knew I was set back, but showeu no
uisappointment in me. The iejection, howevei, soakeu in. I faileu.
I was becoming a wiitei.
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William Staffoiu iose eaily, neaily eveiy moining of his life, anu iesteu in solituue,
then wiote. 0f couise, some moinings he wiote, "Tiavelling Thiough the Baik," oi
"Fifteen," but othei moinings he wiote about Boiothy, his wife, about the iain oi his jog, oi
about colleagues at Lewis anu Claik. Be wiote poems, aphoiisms, questions - some of these
took ioot anu became publisheu woiks, but otheis stayeu in his "compost heap" (8$*0*)+
01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2- JK). Staffoiu welcomeu his thoughts anu his self when he sat uown,
sipping instant coffee at S:uu a.m.
Besciibing his uaily piactice, he wiites, "So, ieceptive, caieless of failuie, I spin out
things on the page. Anu a wonueiful fieeuom comes. If something occuis to me, it is all
iight to accept it. It has one justification: it occuis to me. No one else can guiue me. I must
follow my own weak, wanueiing, uiffiuent impulses" (Peteisen 1S). Foi Staffoiu, the
piocess of wiiting was libeiating anu imaginative. It was a geneiative exeicise, a constant
motion, a "foiwaiu feeling" ("Fifteen"). When uoubts about the quality of his wiiting
emeigeu, Staffoiu squasheu these peifectionist impulses. Be wiites, "I must be willing to
fail. If I am to keep on wiiting, I cannot bothei to insist on high stanuaius" (Peteisen 1S).
S
Failuie isn't something to flee fiom, I iealizeu. Staffoiu submitteu his now famous poem,
"Tiaveling Thiough the Baik" 16 times anu publisheu ioughly one out of eveiy ten of his
poems. The iest, he wiites, "finu themselves coming home peimanently to ioost" (8$*0*)+
01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2- 1u).
Wiiting to publish, to eain a pioficient giaue, oi to achieve a Ph.B aie not the point,
accoiuing to Staffoiu; iathei, wiiting to uiscovei, wanuei, seaich, these aie the motives to
sit uown anu sciatch a few woius anu sentences togethei. When I feel inauequate as a
wiitei, oi sense peifectionism cieeping into my piose, stifling my ability to compose oi
think, I lowei my stanuaius anu embiace what bubbles up.
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"When I wiite, giammai is my enemy," Staffoiu wiites (8$*0*)+ 01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2-
SST. I ieau this multiple times to make suie it was tiue. As a wiitei, I'm inspiieu by Staffoiu;
as a Language Aits teachei, I'm tioubleu. Suie, all this wiiting anu invention anu welcoming
sounus teiiific, but what about the stanuaius. Isn't my job to help stuuents ieau anu wiite
moie ciitically anu cleaily. Shoulun't they be able to punctuate anu iuentify intiouuctoiy
elements anu euit comma splices. In iesponse to these uemanus, I wonuei if Staffoiu's
wiiting piocess might captivate stuuents, allowing them to "ielax anu stait moving," to be
"ieauy foi auventuie" (8$*0*)+ 01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2- 2S; S2). What kinus of wiiting might
stuuents compose if teacheis emphasize geneiating wiiting, composing what stiis the
imagination, insteau of piesciibing piompts anu piesenting wiiting as a set of iules to
memoiize oi maiks to coiiect. What if we saiu, "When you wiite, simply tell me something.
Naybe you can tell me how we shoulu live" (8$*0*)+ 01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2- 27).
Too often stuuents uon't have the choice oi space to "tell me how we shoulu live"
to wiite what matteis to them. This isn't a ciitique of the Common Coie oi its emphasis on
analytical wiiting; in fact, I'll come cleanI appieciate the Common Coie. I uo, howevei,
question whethei we ignite a passion foi wiiting by hanuing out five paiagiaph outlines, oi
by explaining how semicolons will boost a conventions scoie on the annual state test (I
confess, I've uone both). Loweiing wiiting stanuaius uoesn't mean wiiting sloppily, it
simply offeis meicy in the eaily stages of uevelopment. Cleaily, Staffoiu unueistoou anu
employeu mechanical constiuctions anu giammatical iules, but he stiesseu wiiting fiom
the centei, wiiting what you know. Be wiites, "Composing in language is uone by feel,
iathei than by iule."
S
0nce the wiitei plumbs the uepths of his oi hei well, ievision is appiopiiate.
Although it may not be beneficial to compaie oneself to a biilliant wiitei, we can leain fiom
some of Staffoiu's habits. Foi instance, in a uiaft of "Nein Kampf," Staffoiu sciibbles new
veibs, ieplacing "wanuei" with "buiiow," "puts out" with "begs," "touches" with "snags."
Each woiu shaipening the poem's toneeven the title was changeu fiom "The Stiuggle," to
"Nein Kampf," evoking images of Bitlei's biutality. The oiiginal iuea is honeu by culling anu
chiseling specific woius oi phiases.
Staffoiu's way is a subveisive invitation to wiite. In othei woius, I think high school
stuuents will uiink it up. At the heait of all the questions English teacheis heai"Bow long
uoes it have to be"; "Who inventeu the comma."; "Why uo we have to wiite so much.";
"What shoulu I wiite about."is this queiy: What is wiiting foi. This is the common coie
foi Staffoiu. Wiiting is foi becoming a moie thoughtful human being, exploiing the
uichotomies we all inhabit, confionting oui piejuuices, anu fosteiing compassion foi oui
neighbois. Wiiting becomes not an essay to finish, a stanuaiu to meet, but a jouiney to
embaik upon. As teacheis we can accompany oui stuuents on this wiiting life, so they may
continue oneven aftei they'ie ueemeu pioficient.
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Staffoiu has helpeu me to ieoiient my wiiting life. 0sually, I felt like an impostoi,
wonueiing what attiibutes composeu a bona fiue wiitei. Now I see a wiitei is someone
who wiites. Staffoiu says, "A wiitei is not so much someone who has something to say as
he is someone who has founu a piocess that will biing about new things he woulu not have
thought of if he hau not staiteu to say them" (8$*0*)+ 01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2- 17). This is an
invitation to expeiience "one of the gieat, fiee human activities" (2u). This "piocess-iathei-
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than-substance view of wiiting" leu Staffoiu to make the following ieflection: "Wiiteis may
not be specialsensitive oi talenteu in any usual sense. They aie simply engageu in
sustaineu use of a language skill we all have (8$*0*)+ 01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2- 2u). Ny hope is
that Ianu my stuuentscan accept this uemociatizing invitation to wiite what matteis to
us.
When I openeu the lettei fiom 0 of 0, I expeiienceu the sense of failuie Staffoiu
knew well when a poem uiun't iesonate with the euitoi, uiun't biing the ieauei to
attention. I wasn't suie what this iejection might compel me to uo. Now, I see it biought me
to Lewis anu Claik College, ieauing William Staffoiu's woiks, waking up eaily to wiite
uown some thoughtsa piactice I plan to continue, savoiing the "pieces of heaven" ("Any
Noining"). Staffoiu ievealeu I only neeu one thing to become a wiitei: an alaim clock.


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Woiks Citeu
Peteisen, Paulann. 8# D#-()+ *) N*50($%E 8$*0*)+ 2*01 8*--*/6 >0/==($37 Poitlanu, 0ie.:
0oligan Piess, 2u1S.
Staffoiu, William. 8$*0*)+ 01# ,450$/-*/) I$/2-E Z*#25 () 01# 8$*0#$L5 Z(;/0*()7 Ann Aiboi:
The 0niveisity of Nichigan Piess, 1978.
---. F(4 '450 G#"*5# F(4$ H*=#7 Ann Aiboi: The 0niveisity of Nichigan Piess, 1986.