Tag Archives: Frank Stanford

The Mill Mountain Press

The Mill Mountain Press was founded by Irving “Irv” Broughton in the early 1970’s, publishing Frank Stanford’s first book in 1972. The press went on to publish five more of Stanford’s books of poetry between 1974 and 1976 and co-published (with Lost Roads) Stanford’s magnum opus, The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You, in 1977.

1. Stanford, Frank. SINGING KNIVES
Seattle: The Mill Mountain Press, 1971 [1972]

2. Stanford, Frank. LADIES FROM HELL
Seattle: The Mill Mountain Press, 1974

3. Goll, Yvan. THE MYTH OF THE PIERCED ROCK. translated by Frank Jones
Seattle: The Mill Mountain Press, 1975

4. Morris, Phyllis Franklin. TIME TO CLOSE THE COTTAGE
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press 1975

5. Stanford, Frank. FIELD TALK
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1975

6. Stanford, Frank. SHADE
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1975

7. Stanford, Frank. ARKANSAS BENCH STONE
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1975

8. Brewster Ghiselin. LET THERE BE LIGHT
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1976

9. Hankla, Susan. MISTRAL FOR DADDY AND VAN GOGH
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1976

10. Wright, C.D. ALLA BREVE LOVING
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1976

11. Stanford, Frank. CONSTANT STRANGER
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1976

12. Stanford, Frank. THE BATTLEFIELD WHERE THE MOON SAYS I LOVE YOU
Seattle / Fayetteville: Mill Mountain / Lost Roads, 1977. Lost Roads 7-12

13. McAuley, James J. AN IRISH BULL
Spokane: Mill Mountain Press, 1980
First edition, broadside

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Lost Roads Press

When you take the lost road
You find the bright feathers of morning
Laid out in proportion to snow and light
And when the snow gets lost on the road
Then the hot wind might blow from the south
And there is sadness in bed for twenty centuries
And everyone is chewing the grass on the graves again
—Frank Stanford, from “Circle of Lorca”

Lost Roads is a small press founded in 1976 in Arkansas by poet Frank Stanford. Its stated mission is to publish essential books in contemporary literature. After Stanford’s death in 1978, editorship was assumed by poet C.D. Wright, whose book, Room Rented by a Single Woman (1977), had been the press’s first release. Wright co-edited the press with poet Forrest Gander for many years. The current editor is Susan Scarlata.

1. Wright, C.D. ROOM RENTED BY A SINGLE WOMAN
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1977
First edition, perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.75″, 48 pages. Cover art by Stephen Beard. Printed by White River Printers. Published as Lost Roads Number 1

2. Stoss, John. FINDING THE BROOM
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1977
Published as Lost Roads 2

3. Adamo, Ralph. SADNESS AT THE PRIVATE UNIVERSITY
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1977
Published as Lost Roads 3

4. Morris, John S. BEAN STREET
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1977
Published as Lost Roads 4

5. McKernan, John. WALKING ALONG THE MISSOURI RIVER
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1977
First edition, perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.75″, 40 pages. Cover art by Richard Albertine. Printed by White River Printers. Published as Lost Roads Number 5

6. Broughton, Irv. THE BLESSING OF THE FLEET
Fayetteville, Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1977
Published as Lost Roads Number 6

7. Stanford, Frank. THE BATTLEFIELD WHERE THE MOON SAYS I LOVE YOU
Fayetteville / Seattle: Lost Roads Publishing Company / Mill Mountain Press, 1977
First edition, perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 7.25? x 8.5?, 542 pages. Published as Lost Roads Number 7-12

8. Wright, C. D. TERRORISM
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1979
First edition, perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 8″, 48 pages. Cover art by Alan Pogue. Printed by White River Printers. Published as Lost Roads Number 13

9. Gilchrist, Ellen. THE LAND SURVEYOR’S DAUGHTER
Fayetteville: Lost Roads, 1979
Published as Lost roads Number 14

10. Stanford, Frank. YOU
Fayetteville: Lost Roads, 1979
Published as Lost roads Number 15

11. Caldwell, Justin. THE SLEEPING PORCH
Fayetteville: Lost Roads, 1979
Published as Lost Roads Number 16

12. Adamo, Ralph. THE END OF THE WORLD
Fayetteville: Lost Roads, 1979
Published as Lost Roads Number 17

13. Stanford, Frank. THE SINGING KNIVES
Fayetteville: Lost Roads, 1979
Published as Lost Roads Number 18

14. Benitez, Zuleyka. TROUBLE IN PARADISE 
Fayetteville: Lost Roads, 1980
Published as Lost Roads Number 19

15. Johnson, Honor. SMALL AS A RESURRECTION
Eureka Springs: Lost Roads, 1982
Published as Lost Roads Number 20

16. Rice, Stan. BODY OF WORK
Eureka Springs: Lost Roads, 1983
Published as Lost Roads Number 21

17. Stern, Steve. ISAAC AND THE UNDERTAKER’S DAUGHTER
Published as Lost Roads Number 22

18. Mayes, Frances. HOURS
Providence: Lost Roads, 1984
Published as Lost Roads Number 23

Online Resources:

Rain Taxi article on Lost Roads Press

Frank Stanford – Film

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Section D:
This index includes film

It Wasn’t A Dream, It Was A Flood is a 1974 autobiographical, 16mm short film about poet Frank Stanford, made by Stanford and his publisher, Irv Broughton.Stanford appears charismatic and passionate in the 25-minute film, which interviews friends on whom Stanford’s literary characters were sometimes based.

The film won one of the Judge’s Awards at the 1975 Northwest Film & Video Festival. It has never been released in theaters or on home video.

 

Frank Stanford – Contributions to Periodicals

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Section C:
This index includes contributions to periodicals; entries within years are listed alphabetically

1969

1. PREVIEW: 1968-1969, edited by Leon Stokesbury
Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas, 1969

Stanford contribution: “Living” [collected in Singing Knives]

1970

2. MILL MOUNTAIN REVIEW, Vol. 1, No. 2, edited by  Irv Broughton
Roanoke: Mill Mountain Review, 1970

Stanford contribution: “The Professors” [uncollected], “The Solitude of Historical Analysis” [uncollected], “The Politicians” [uncollected], “Holy Night” [uncollected], “Living” [collected in The Singing Knives]

3. PREVIEW: THE LITERATURE, edited by Leon Stokesbury
Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas, 1970

Stanford contribution: “Elegy for My Father” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Remembering the Odor in the Jewish Dentist’s House Next Door, I Recall the Picture Show Next Door to the Stamp Store in Downtown Memphis” [uncollected], “The Gospel Bird” [collected in The Singing Knives], “The Albino” [collected in The Singing Knives]

4. TANSY, No. 1 , edited by John Moritz
Lawrence: Tansy, 1970

Stanford contribution: “Early Times In A Mississippi Liquor Store” [uncollected], “The Hole” [uncollected]


5. TANSY, No. 4 , edited by John Moritz
Lawrence: Tansy, n.d. [c. 1970-71]

Stanford contribution: “Tapsticks” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Chimera” [uncollected].



1971

6. ALDEBARAN REVIEW, No. 11, edited by John Oliver Simon
Berkeley: Noh Directions Press, 1971

Stanford contribution: “On Jesus Highway” [uncollected]

7. THE CHICAGO REVIEW, Vol. 23, No. 1, edited by Robert McKean
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971

Stanford contribution: “Fish on the Trees (elegy)” [uncollected], “The Albino” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Remembering the Odor in the Jewish Dentist’s House Next Door, I Recall the Picture Show next door to the Stamp Store in Downtown Memphis” [uncollected]

8. KAYAK, No. 26, edited by George Hitchcock
Santa Cruz: Kayak Books Inc, 1971

Stanford contribution: “Wishing My Wife Had One Leg” [collected in The Singing Knives]

9. THE LITTLE REVIEW, Vol. 2, No. 2, Issue 4, edited by John McKernan
Huntington: Little Review Press, 1971

Stanford contribution: “The Kite”, [uncollected] “The Pump” [collected in The Singing Knives]

10. MILL MOUNTAIN REVIEW, Vol. 1, No. 3, edited by Irv Broughton
Roanoke, VA: Mill Mountain Review, 1971

Stanford contribution: “If I Should Wake” [collected in The Singing Knives], “The Bass” [collected in The Singing Knives], “The Doe” [uncollected], “The Minnow” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Cottonmouth” [uncollected]

11. MILL MOUNTAIN REVIEW, Vol. 1, No. 4, edited by Irv Broughton
Seattle: Mill Mountain Review, 1971

Stanford contribution: “Planning the Disappearance of Those Who Have Gone” [collected in The Singing Knives], “The Bandits” [uncollected], “Bergman the Burning Ship” [uncollected], “Bend Sinister” [uncollected], “The Mother of Yannis Ritsos” [uncollected], “The Men” [uncollected]

12. THE NATION, Vol. 213, No. 10
New York: Nation Associates Inc., October 1971

Stanford contribution: “Belladonna” [collected in The Singing Knives]

13. NEW AMERICAN REVIEW, No. 11, edited by Theodore Solotaroff 
New York: New American Library, 1971

Stanford contribution: “The Gospel Bird” [collected in The Singing Knives]

14. WEST COAST REVIEW, Vol. 6, No. 2, edited by Frederick Candelaria
Burnaby: Simon Fraser University, 1971

Stanford contribution: “The Intruder” [collected in The Singing Knives], “The Quiver” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Friends of the House of Momus” [uncollected], “Momus” [uncollected], “White Feather” [uncollected], “Poet Manque” [uncollected], “Becoming the Unicorn” [collected in The Singing Knives], “The Tribade” [uncollected], “The Arena” [uncollected], “The Odor” [uncollected], “Solus” [uncollected], “Holy Night” [uncollected], “The Bandits” [uncollected], “The Smoking Mirrors” [uncollected], “Bergman the Burning Ship” [uncollected]

1972

15. OPEN PLACES, No. 11, edited by Eleanor M. Bender
Columbia: Stephens College, January 1972

Stanford contribution: “Strappado” [collected in The Singing Knives], “When the rain hits the snake in the head…” [uncollected], “Becoming the Unicorn” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Narcissus to Achilles” [collected in The Singing Knives]

16. HOLLINS CRITIC, Vol. 9, No. 1, edited by R.H.W. Dillard
Roanoke: Hollins College, 1972

Stanford contribution: “Chimera” [uncollected]

17. THE IOWA REVIEW, Vol. 3, No. 3, edited by Merle E. Brown
Iowa City: The University of Iowa, Summer 1972

Stanford contribution: “The Buried Sword” [uncollected], “Keeping the Lord’s Night Watch” [uncollected], “The Actresses of Night” [uncollected], “The Paramour” [collected in Ladies from Hell]

18. THE MASSACHUSETTS REVIEW, Vol. 13, No. 4
Amherst: University of Massachusetts, Autumn 1972

Stanford contribution: “Tapsticks” [collected in The Singing Knives]

19. POETRY: AUSTRALIA, No. 43, edited by Grace Perry
Sydney: South Head Press, 1972

Stanford contribution: Translation from the Spanish: “Twilight” by César Vallejo

1973

20. BOSTON AFTER DARK: THE BOSTON PHOENIX, Vol. 2, No. 51, Section 2
Boston: The Boston Phoenix, December 1973

Stanford contribution: excerpt “Blue Yodel of Poets of Times Past” [uncollected]

21. THE NEW YORK QUARTERLY, No. 15, edited by William Packard
New York: New York Quarterly Poetry Review, Summer 1973

Stanford contribution: “Death in the Cool Evening” [collected in Ladies from Hell]

1974

22. THE ARK RIVER REVIEW, Vol. 3, No. 1, edited by Jonathan Katz, A.G. Sobin, and Arthur Vogelsang
Haverford: The Ark River Review, 1974

Stanford contribution: “In Plain View” [collected in Shade], “Pasture Dream” [collected in Ladies from Hell]

23. DACOTAH TERRITORY, No. 8/9, edited by Mark Vinz
Moorehead: Moorhead State College, Fall-Winter 1974

Stanford contribution: “Suspect” [collected in Ladies from Hell], “Soybeans” [collected in Shade]

24. FIELD, No. 10, edited by Stuart Friebert and David Young
Oberlin: Oberlin College, Spring 1974

Stanford contribution: “Brothers on Sunday Night” [collected in Ladies from Hell], “Linger” [collected in Ladies from Hell]

25. FIELD, No. 11, edited by Stuart Friebert and David Young
Oberlin: Oberlin College, Fall 1974

Stanford contribution: “The Dead Man’s Fiddle” [collected in Crib Death], “The Home Movie of Those Who are Dead Now” [collected in Crib Death]

26. FIELD, 12, edited by Stuart Friebert and David Young
Oberlin: Oberlin College, Spring 1974)

Stanford contribution: “Blue Yodel of Her Feet” [uncollected], “Allegory of Death and Night” [uncollected], “Children at the Point of Death” [uncollected], “Knew it was Love, Felt it was Glory (after Pier Paolo Pasolini)” [collected in Crib Death]

27. THE IOWA REVIEW, Vol. 5, No. 2, edited by Merle E. Brown
Iowa City: The University of Iowa, Spring 1974

Stanford contribution: “Rooms” [collected in Constant Stanger], “Hidden Water” [collected in Ladies from Hell]

28. THE IOWA REVIEW, Vol. 5, No. 3, edited by Merle E. Brown
Iowa City: The University of Iowa, Summer 1974

Stanford contribution: “A Past: Wintered Like a Circus ” [uncollected]

29. IRONWOOD, No. 4, edited by Michael Cuddihy
Tucson: Ironwood, December 1974

Stanford contribution: “Handling Paper with Cold Hands” [collected in You], “Lost Recipe” [uncollected], “Crest” [uncollected], “Island Funeral” [collected in Crib Death], “Getting to Sleep” [collected in Ladies from Hell]

30. THE LITTLE REVIEW, Vol. 5, No. 1, Issue 9, edited by John McKernan
Dorchester: Little Review Press, 1974

Stanford contribution: “Blue Yodel of Those Who Were Always Telling Me” [uncollected]

31. POETRY: AUSTRALIA, No. 51, edited by Grace Perry
Sydney: South Head Press(1974)

Stanford contribution: Translation from the Spanish: “Message by Lorca Sent to Me in an Infant’s Casket” by Nicanor Parra

32. PRAIRIE SCHOONER, Vol. 48, No. 3, edited by Bernice Slote
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, Fall 1974

Stanford contribution: “Sudden Opera” [collected in Ladies from Hell]

1975

33. AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW, Vol. 4, No. 2, edited by Stephen Berg
Philadelphia: American Poetry Review, March-April 1975

Stanford contribution: “What About This” [uncollected], “They Really Do” [uncollected]

34. IRONWOOD, No. 6, edited by Michael Cuddihy
Tucson: Ironwood Press, 1975

Stanford contribution: “The Burial Ship” [uncollected], “The Wolves” [uncollected]

35. THE LITTLE REVIEW, Vol. 5, No. 2, Issue 10, edited by John McKernan
Dorchester: Little Review Press, 1975

Stanford contribution: “Blue Yodel” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Their Names Are Spoken” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Island” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Tale” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Will” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Shed” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Blue Yodel of the Quick and the Dead” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Lament of the Land Surveyor” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Monk’s Dog” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Women Singing When Their Husbands Are Gone” [collected in Ladies from Hell, “Lap” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Mouths Full of Spit” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone]

1976

36. OUT THERE, No. 10, edited by Rose Lesniak  
Chicago: Out There Press, (1976)

Stanford contribution: “Only One Set in The Singer’s Eyes” [collected in Crib Death], “Why The Moon is The Outhouse” [collected in Crib Death], “Porch Chair” [uncollected].

1977

37. BARATARIA, No. 3, edited by Ellen Gilchrist and Everette Maddox
New Orleans: The Barataria Press, Spring-Summer 1977

Stanford contribution: “Dreamt by a Man in a Field” [uncollected], “Between Love and Death” [collected in Crib Death], ”You” [uncollected], “Would You Like to Lie Down with the Light on and Cry” [collected in Crib Death], “Allegory of Youth” [uncollected]

38. BARATARIA, No. 4 , edited by Ellen Gilchrist and Everette Maddox
New Orleans: The Barataria Press, Fall 1977

Stanford contribution: “The Captain’s Desk” [uncollected]

39. IRONWOOD, 9, edited by Michael Cuddihy
Tucson: Ironwood Press, Spring 1977

Stanford contribution: “Taking Your Life” [collected in Crib Death], “Amaranth” [collected in Crib Death], “A Woman Driving a Stake into the Ground at Midnight” [collected in Crib Death], “Strange Roads before Light” [collected in Crib Death], “Only One Set in the Singer’s Eyes” [collected in Crib Death], “The Angel of Death” [collected in Crib Death], “Death and the Arkansas River” [collected in Constant Stranger]

1978

40. IRONWOOD, No. 12, edited by Michael Cuddihy
Tucson: Ironwood Press, Fall 1978

Stanford contribution: “The Light The Dead See” [collected in Crib Death], “In this House” [collected in Crib Death], “A Milk Truck Running into a Crazy Maid at the Corner of Getwell and Park” [collected in Crib Death], “The Boy Who Shot Weathercocks” [collected in Crib Death]

1979

41. AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW, Vol. 8, No. 2, edited by Stephen Berg
Philadelphia: World Poetry, March/April 1979

Stanford contribution: “The History of John Stoss” [collected in You], “Starving to Death” [uncollected], “Source” [uncollected], “Light Blue” [uncollected], “Death and Memory” [uncollected]

42. SUN & MOON: A JOURNAL OF LITERATURE & ART, No. 8, edited by Douglas Messerli and Howard Fox
College Park: Sun & Moon, Fall 1979

Stanford contribution: “The Angel of Death” [collected in Crib Death], “Freedom, Revolt, and Love” [uncollected]

1980s and beyond

43. IRONWOOD, No. 17, edited by Michael Cuddihy
Tucson: Ironwood Press, April 1981

Stanford contribution: “The Picture Show Next Door to The Stamp Store in Downtown Memphis” [collected in The Singing Knives], “The Pump” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Getting to Sleep” [collected in Ladies from Hell], “Lost Recipe” [collected in Crib Death], “Wind Blowing on a Sick Man”, “The Burial Ship”, “Everybody Who is Dead”, “Between Love and Death”, “Blue Yodel of the Lost Child”, “Allegory of Death and Night”, “A Milk Truck Running into a Crazy Maid at the Corner of Getwell and Park”, “The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You”, Selections

44. IRONWOOD, No. 23, edited by Michael Cuddihy
Tucson: Ironwood Press, Spring 1984

Stanford contribution: “Crossed” [uncollected]

45. RACCOON, No. 24/25, Tenth Anniversary Issue.
Memphis: Ion Books, May 1987

Stanford contribution: “There Is No Where in You a Paradise That Is No Place and There You Do Not Enter Except Without a Story”

46. NEW LETTERS, Vol. 64, No. 3, edited by James McKinley
Kansas City: University of Missouri-Kansas City, Spring 1998

Stanford contribution: “Dead Child”

Unknown Contributions

ASK THE POET
BOSTON AFTER DARK
BOSTON PHOENIX
THE CIRCULAR RUINS [Scotland]
DE QUINCEY [England]
EDGE [Christchurch , New Zealand]
GHOST SHIP [Ireland]
THE HUNCHBACK IN THE PARK [Wales]
LA BELL ET LA BETE [France]
LA NOTTE [Italy]
THE LITTLE REVIEW
THE NATION, Vol. 213, No. 10 (1971)
THE PARTISAN REVIEW
POETRY NOW, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1975)
THE PORTABLE PLATEAU, Volume 1 Number 1 (1997)
ROAD APPLE REVIEW [Albuquerque]
SEEMS [DeKalb]
STINKTREE [Memphis]
VILLAGE

Frank Stanford – Contributions to Books and Anthologies

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Section B:
This index includes contributions to books and anthologies

1. PREVIEW: EIGHT POETS, edited by Frank Stanford
Fayetteville:University of Arkansas Press, 1971

Stanford contribution: “Wishing My Wife Had One Leg” [collected in The Singing Knives]

2. FIFTY CONTEMPORARY POETS: THE CREATIVE PROCESS, edited by Alberta Turner
NY: Longman Publishing Group, 1977

Stanford contribution: “With the Approach of the Oak the Axeman Quakes”

3. BIG EASY: AN ANTHOLOGY OF NEW ORLEANS POETRY, edited by Ralph Adamo
New Orleans: Arts Council of Greater New Orleans, 1978

Stanford contribution: “Drunk Song in May” [collected in Shade]

4. OZARK, OZARK: A HILLSIDE READER, edited by Miller Williams Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1984

5. THE MADE THING: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTHERN POETRY, edited by Leon Stokesbury
Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1987

Stanford contribution: “The Intruder” [collected in The Singing Knives], “Inventory” [collected in Arkansas Bench Stone], “Place on a Grave” [collected in Ladies from Hell], “Allegory of Death and Night” [uncollected], “Island Funeral” [collected in Crib Death]

6. THE WRITER’S MIND: INTERVIEWS WITH AMERICAN AUTHORS, edited by Irv Broughton
Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1990

7. THE LOST ROADS PROJECT: A WALK-IN BOOK OF ARKANSAS, edited and with an introduction by C.D. Wright
Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994

Stanford contribution: “What About This” [uncollected]

—

Frank Stanford – Books and Broadsides

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Section A:
This index includes books, chapbooks, booklets and broadsides

1. Stanford, Frank. THE SINGING KNIVES
singingknivesa. First edition:
Seattle: The Mill Mountain Press, 1971 [1972]
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 56 pages. The poet’s first book.

Contents: “The Blood Brothers”, “The Singing Knives”, “Living”, “The Pump”, “The Gospel Bird”, “The Albino”, “Elegy for My Father”, “Tapsticks”, “The Bass”, “The Minnow”, “The Picture Show Next Door to The Stamp Store in Downtown Memphis”, “Poem”, “Transcendence of Janus”, “Strappado”, “If I Should Wake”, “Wishing My Wife Had One Leg”, “Narcissus to Achilles”, “Planning the Disappearance of Those Who Have Gone”, “The Intruder after Jean Follain”, “The Quiver”, “Becoming the Unicorn”, “Belladonna”, “The Snake Doctors”

b. Second edition:
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing Company, 1979
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 64 pages. Cover art of constellations by David Hurley. Printed by White River Printers. Published as Lost Roads Number 18. Contains two poems not included in the first edition as well as a biographical sketch of the poet by C.D. Wright (uncredited).

c. Third edition:
Providence: Lost Roads Publishers, 2008

2. Stanford, Frank. LADIES FROM HELL
First edition:
Seattle: The Mill Mountain Press, 1974
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6.25″ x 10″, 40 pages. Drawings by Ginny Couch Stanford.

Contents: “Brothers On Sunday Night”, “Hidden Water”, “Linger”, “If She Lives In the Hills”, “Women Singing When Their Husbands Are Gone”, “Sudden Opera”, “Do Tell”, “Suspect”, “Dante Gabrielle Rossetti With His Head on the Virginal”, “Blue Yodel of the Wayfaring Stranger”, “Twilight”, “Death In The Cool Evening”, “Place On A Grave”, “Getting To Sleep”, “The Paramour”, “Farewell”, “Where We Slept Together”, “Pasture Dream”

Note: The poems in this selection were originally a part of the following manuscripts: Gone, Field Talk, Shade, Approacheth The Ship and Wonder, Yonder, Saint Francis and the Wolf, Some Poems 1957-1964, Blue Yodels, Automatic Co-Pilot, The Pre-Raphaelites Little Brother Naegling, Lord Gigolo and the Dancers with Chinese Eyes.

3. Stanford, Frank. FIELD TALK
stanfordfieldFirst edition:
Seattle: The Mill Mountain Press, 1975
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.75″, 32 pages. Drawings by Ginny Crouch Stanford.

Contents: “Plowboy”, “Lullaby to a Child Who They Say Will Not Live Through The Night”, “Milksnake”, “The Long Staircase”, “The River is Some Time to Kill Without Warning”, “Sanctuary”, “The Prows”, “Wrote Down Burns”, “The Chinese Noseguards for The Entrance to The Mouth”, “The Face of Love”, “Spell”, “Nautilus”, “A Life Taken in The Throat of The Tree Frog”, “Partner”, “I Would Have a Woman as Real as Death”, “On”, “Blue Yodel Silence You Are”, “When It’s After Dark”, “Cutting Fishing Poles for The Dead”, “Fire Left by Travellers”

Note: The Poems in this selection were originally a part of the following manuscripts: Field Talk: 1957-1972, Blue Yodels.

4. Stanford, Frank. SHADE
shadeFirst edition:
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1975
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.75″, 50 pages. Drawings by Ginny Crouch Stanford.

Contents: “Soybeans”, “The Last Dance”, “In Plain View”, “The Unbelievable Nightgown”, “Liason”, “My Home”, “The Cloud”, “The Conflict”, “Wonder Bread”, “Swirl of Dust in The Cottonfields”, “Dawn”, “Black Swan”, “A Man Born in The Forest”, “Born There”, “Gray”, “All in My Good Time”, “Leer”, “Drunk Song in May”, “Honeymoon”, “The Silence The Thicket The Sniffing”, “Fair Trial”, “The Hearse on The Other Side of The Canvas”, “Night Time”, “Wedding”, “Humming This Song”, “Tryst”, “Field Hands on Plantation Night”, “Slow Rag of The Yearbook”, “Living with Death”, “Called”

Note: These poems were written during the time: 1964-1968, and were originally part of the following manuscripts: Hard Figuring, So Long For This World, Blue Yodels, Touched Stones, Taking My Shade.

5. Stanford, Frank. ARKANSAS BENCH STONE
arkansasFirst edition:
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1975
Perfect-bound in printed wrappers, 6.25″ x 10″, 32 pages. Paintings, photograph, and drawings by Ginny Crouch Stanford.

Contents: “The Visitors of Night”, “Monk’s Dog”, “Mouths Full of Spit”, “Their Names are Spoken”, “Lap”, “Tale”, “Island”, “Lament of the Land Surveyor”, “Blue Yodel”, “Blue Yodel of the Quick and the Dead”, “Will”, “Shed”, “Village with Dark Sun”, “Inventory”, “Land of the Downstream People”, “Soaking Wet”

Note: Arkansas Bench Stone is a Legend For John S. Morris.

6. Stanford, Frank. CONSTANT STRANGER
constantsFirst edition:
Seattle: Mill Mountain Press, 1976
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 52 pages.

Contents: “Death and the Arkansas River”, “Directions from a Madman”, “The First Twenty-Five Years of My Life”, “The Boathouse”, “Blue Yodel of the Desperado”, “In These Rooms”, “Eyelids Noticed Only in the Seventh Minute of Twilight”, “No Signs of Life: A Tragic Gag of  Raymond Radiguet”, “The Forgotten Madmen of Menilmontant”, “At the Moment of Death”, “A Black Cat Crossed the Road I Was Born On”, “Time Forks Perpetually Towards Innumerable Futures in one of them I Am Your Enemy”

Note: The title of the last poem in this book comes from a line by Borges.

7. Stanford, Frank. THE BATTLEFIELD WHERE THE MOON SAYS I LOVE YOU
battlefielda. First edition:
Fayetteville / Seattle: Lost Roads Publishing Company / Mill Mountain Press, 1977
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 7.25″ x 8.5″, 542 pages. Published as Lost Roads 7-12.

Contents: “The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You”.

Note: Cover photograph taken the last day of the war, Tan Son Nhut Airport, Saigon,  April 29, 1975.

b. Second edition
Barrington: Lost Roads Publishers, 2000
New preface by C.D. Wright.

8. Stanford, Frank. CRIB DEATH
cribdFirst edition:
Kensington: Ironwood Press, 1978
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 56 pages.

Contents: “Amaranth”, “A Woman Driving a Stake into the Ground at Midnight”, “Taking Your Life”, “Strange Roads Before Light”, “Lost Recipe”, “The Angel of Death”, “Knew it was Love, Felt is was Glory, The Home Movie of Those Who Are Dead Now: In This House”, “The Boy Who Shot Weathercocks”, “More Biscuits”, “A Milk Truck Running into a Crazy Maid”, “Island Funeral”, “The Movie of Those Who Are Dead Now”, “Why the Moon is in the Outhouse”, “Blue Yodel a Prairie”, “Memory is Like a Shotgun Kicking You Near the Heart”, “The Dead Man’s Fiddle, Death & The Arkansas River: Between Love and Death”, “Dreams of a River I Waded with Others”, “Would You Like to Lie Down with the Light on and Cry”, “Blue Yodel of the Lost Child”, “The Lunatic”, “Death and the Arkansas River, The Light the Dead See: Fire Left By Travellers”, “A Beautiful Woman Came Down to the Sawmill”, “The Neighbor’s Wife”, “Terrorism”, “Only One Set in the Singer’s Eyes”, “Living the Good Life”, “The Light the Dead See”

Note: Frank Stanford’s first posthumous book.

9. Stanford, Frank. YOU
youa. First edition:
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishing, 1979
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 52 pages. Cover photograph by Richard Albertine. Printed by White River Printers. Published as Lost Roads Number 15.

Contents: “Handling Paper with Cold Hands”, “Jonquils”, “Spirits”, “Postcard to Lucia”, “Epiphanies”, “Boots”, “Braids”, “Parole”, “Freedom, Revolt, and Love”, “The History of John Stoss”.

b. Second edition:
Providence: Lost Roads Publishers, 2008

10. Stanford, Frank. CONDITIONS UNCERTAIN AND LIKELY TO PASS AWAY: TALES
First edition:
Lost Roads Publishers, 1990
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 152 pages. Published as Lost Roads Number 37.



11. Stanford, Frank. LIGHT THE DEAD SEE: SELECTED POEMS OF FRANK STANFORD
First edition:
Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1991
Hardcover with dust jacket, 5.75″ x 9″, 112 pages. Edited and with an introduction by Leon Stokesbury.

12. Stanford, Frank. SEARCH PARTY
First edition:
Fayetteville: Lost Roads Publishers, 2008
Broadside, 8.5″ x 13.75″. Designed by Cannibal Books and printed at the Effing Press for The Frank Stanford Literary Festival, Fayetteville, October 17-19, 2008.

13. WHAT ABOUT THIS: COLLECTED POEMS OF FRANK STANFORD, edited by Michael Wiegers
First edition:
Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, April 2015
Hardcover, 6″ x 9″, 764 pages. Introduction by Dean Young.

14. Stanford, Frank. DREAMT BY A MAN IN A FIELD
First edition:
Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 2015
Broadside, 8″ x 9.25″. Printed at The North Press.

15. Stanford, Frank. HIDDEN WATER: FROM THE FRANK STANFORD ARCHIVES
First edition:
Nashville: Third Man Books, 2015
Perfect-bound in illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 200 pages.

…

Frank Stanford

Photo by Ginny Crouch Stanford

 

 

 

Born in 1948, Stanford was a prolific poet known for his originality and ingenuity. He has been dubbed “a swamprat Rimbaud” by Lorenzo Thomas and “one of the great voices of death” by Franz Wright. He grew up in Mississippi, Tennessee, and then Arkansas, where he lived for most of his life and wrote many of his most powerful poems. He attended the University of Arkansas from 1967-69 and studied engineering while continuing to write poetry. Stanford died in 1978.

He authored over ten books of poetry, including eight volumes in the last seven years of his life: The Singing Knives (1972), Ladies from Hell (1974), Field Talk (1974), Shade (1975), Arkansas Bench Stone (1975), Constant Stranger (1976), The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You (1977), and Crib Death (1978). His posthumous collection, What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford (2015), was a finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Award.

Frank Stanford Checklist:

Section A: Books and Broadsides
Section B: Contributions to Books and Anthologies
Section C: Contributions to Periodicals
Section D: Film

Lost Roads Press

Mill Mountain Press [coming soon]

References Consulted:

RACCOON: MONOGRAPH TWO, edited by David Spicer
Memphis: St. Luke’s Press, April 1981
“A Preliminary Bibliography of Frank Stanford” by C.D Wright

Online Resources:

Lost Roads

“Finders, Losers: Frank Stanford’s Song of the South”, by Lorenzo Thomas

“The Last Light of the Levee Camp: Frank Stanford Revisited”, by Elijah Burrell

“Poetry Class #2 (Frank Stanford)”, by Jack Dog Welch