In this paper William Stafford's varied descriptions and occasional judgments as to what it means to write a poem are gathered by prospecting through his essays, published lectures, and transcribed interviews. The paper describes Stafford's perspective on (1) the powerful language of poetry; (2) finding each poem's unique form; (3) practicing the process of making a poem; and (4) evaluating the poem. Looking at Stafford's writing process as an experiment in the open form, the paper argues that writing is discovery, not a plan: the process is more vital than the product. The paper concludes that Stafford is one of the "wild cards"--a wanderer out of the halls of "how to" into the wilderness of discovery. His purpose is not to trash tradition but to go beyond it. (RS)