Probably just like you, I’ve been living life by the seat of my pants. Consider this a testimonial. I discovered the poetry of Frank Stanford while on tour with my band in the early ‘00s. I had grown tired of the usual hurry up—drink beer— wait—drink beer— wait even longer—hurry up even more—finally play ritual of touring. So before our shows, I had begun to sneak out to local book stores and other places full of interesting things. At Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon I found

The Light the Dead See by Frank Stanford on their “recommendations” shelf. I couldn’t believe what I read: contemporary poetry about throwing knives, hanging outside of grocery stores, fishing, fighting, loving, and lots and lots about the moon. But what really got me: the rhythms and deep influence of blues music in his lines. I could feel Mississippi Fred McDowell playing in the words. Feel John Lee Hooker’s growl. Understand Ma Rainey’s broken heart. I saw so many familiar sights from Memphis, TN, Fayetteville, Arkansas, and all over the southern United States,… and I was in Portland, Oregon. The sobering fact here is that I grew up in Memphis. How had I missed this writer? For years afterward, I read and re-read Stanford. And then one of those many strange, lucky turns happened in my life. I had stopped playing rock n roll to concentrate on my other love, my mistress come bride— the music of language. And, after some more life-turns, TMR hired me as editor for Third Man Books. Then, only a few months after that, in another seat of the pants move, I began working with Copper Canyon Press editor Michael Wiegers on TMB's Hidden Water: From the Archives of Frank Stanford. I don’t know if many publishers, record producers, et al can truly, honestly say that they’ve been fortunate enough to work on a release by one of their all time favorites. I can. Stanford has been deeply important to me as a person and artist.

To go much further into Stanford’s life and work, please read this article by CD Wright (whom many consider to be among America’s greatest living poets).

We’ve included here the color portrait titled "Loss of the Killing Instinct" by his wife Ginny Stanford that is the basis for Hidden Water’s cover. Also, for Vault members only, an unseen photo of Stanford taken by Ginny, one unpublished poem titled "Camille Who Dresses in Black,” a never before heard recording of the poem "The Moon" read by Stanford’s lifelong friend Bill Willett (there’s only two known recordings of Stanford himself, one is available with Hidden Water, the other unreleased). Bill says Frank and he met during football tryouts. They were the smallest kids on the team, consequently, they had to fight the hardest. Of course, they fought each other first and "became so tired of whooping up on each other that they decided they best be friends." "The Moon" is the first poem in Hidden Water.

—Chet Weise

Third Man Books

Biography: Frank Stanford was born Francis Gildart Smith in 1948, in Richton, Mississippi. He was adopted by a single mother, Dorothy Gilbert Alter, the first female manager of Firestone. In 1952 Dorothy married Albert Franklin Stanford, a levee engineer from Memphis who subsequently adopted Frankie, as he was known, and his younger sister, Ruthie. The family moved to Mallard Point on Lake Norfork near Mountain Home, Arkansas, in 1961, following A.F. Stanford’s retirement. After his father’s death, Frank was enrolled in Subiaco Academy, a Benedictine monastery and prep school near Paris, Arkansas. In 1966, he graduated from Subiaco and enrolled in the University of Arkansas, where he took graduate level creative writing workshops. He left the university in 1970, before completing his degree, and started working sporadically as an unlicensed land surveyor in Fayetteville, Arkansas, married Linda Mencin in 1971, but divorced soon afterward.

In 1971, Mill Mountain Press published Stanford’s first collection of poetry, The Singing Knives. Stanford and Irving Broughton, the editor and publisher of Mill Mountain, spent much of 1972 traveling the East Coast, interviewing and filming senior poets and writers, an experience that advanced Stanford’s interest in filmmaking. In 1974, Stanford married the painter Ginny Crouch, whose drawings featured in his early books. Returning to Fayetteville, in 1975 he founded Lost Roads Publishers and befriended the poet C.D. Wright, who worked as his production assistant. Following the publication of seven titles by Mill Mountain Press in the early seventies and mid-seventies, a number of previously unpublished manuscripts were released posthumously by Lost Roads Publishers, Ironwood Press, and the University of Arkansas. His opus, The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You, was released in 1979 and a second edition in 2000.

In June 1978, Stanford took his own life in Fayetteville. He is buried at Subiaco.