Exhibit, Marathon Reading Honor Arkansas Poet Frank Stanford

A new exhibit at the University Libraries for National Poetry Month highlights the life and legacy of Arkansas poet Frank Stanford, including the third edition of his poem The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You, published by the University of Arkansas Press. 

Titled Frank Stanford's Battlefield: Selections from Special Collections Commemorating the New Edition of Arkansas Poet's Major Work, the exhibit is on display through May 15 in a Level 1 display case at Mullins Library.

First published shortly after Stanford's death in 1978, Battlefield is an epic poem of more than 15,000 lines. Written from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy in 1960, the work explores a dreamlike Southern landscape marked by violence, beauty and emotional intensity. Stanford completed the manuscript in 1977, the same year he founded Lost Roads Press in Fayetteville.

The exhibit, curated by the Libraries Special Collections division, features rare books, archival materials and community-sourced items that document Stanford's life, career and posthumous influence.

Among the items on display are a first edition of The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You from Stanford's personal circle, a 2000 second edition edited by C. D. Wright and Forrest Gander, and a limited 1979 edition of The Singing Knives. Visitors can also view broadsides, festival programs and a 1978 memorial published in a Fayetteville alternative newspaper shortly after Stanford's death.

The exhibit also highlights the role of community and literary networks in sustaining Stanford's legacy. Materials include a signed broadside from a 1990 reading at Brown University and a program from a 2018 Stanford festival organized by the Open Mouth Reading Series with support from Special Collections.

In connection with the exhibit, editors James McWilliams and A.P. Walton will host an overnight marathon reading of The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You on April 3-4 at 1158 Crestwood Dr., a private residence on Mount Sequoyah.

Beginning at 6 p.m. and continuing into the following morning, the event invites participants to read aloud from the poem in a rotating, open format. Attendees may read or listen and are welcome to come and go throughout the night.

Organizers describe the poem as one of "tremendous amplitude," encouraging participants to engage with it collectively. The reading will conclude with a visit to the site where Stanford died on June 3, 1978, for a moment of silence in his honor.

The exhibit and reading reflect the Libraries' ongoing efforts to preserve and share Arkansas literary history through Special Collections, connecting archival materials with community engagement and public programming.