Frank Stanford on front porch of house in Busch, AR (near Eureka Springs) photo taken by Ginny Stanford 1973

Smoking Grapevine: Outline and Concordance for Frank Stanford’s _The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You_

Ata Moharreri
2 min readJan 4, 2022

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The text presented here offers a roadmap to Frank Stanford’s epic poem The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You. Neither the first publication of The Battlefield, nor its reissue, include a table of contents or an index; my notes cover that ground. The third part of my notes alphabetizes allusions from Stanford’s epic, making it a catalogue of American history and a look into Stanford’s history, experience, and copious imagination.

These notes are meant to help you read The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You; however, they have not yet been fully edited. They’re just my personal notes from my own close reading of the poem. They may be updated in the future; check back if you like.

The notes consist of three parts —
1.) Outline
2.) Expanded outline
3.) Concordance — alphabetized list of people, places, and things

The list concludes with crude translations of all lines from the poem that are not originally in English.

I hope these notes help you through your own journey of, arguably, the greatest American contemporary epic poem.

See downloadable PDF below (click share link at bottom of preview window to access link for download).

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Relatable Links:

Frank Stanford’s Lament and Some of His Biography with James McWilliams
Conversation About The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You Pt. 1

Conversation About The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You Pt. 2
Frank Stanford’s The Battle Field Where The Moon Says I Love You Pt. 1
Frank Stanford’s The Battle Field Where The Moon Says I Love You Pt. 2
Frank Stanford: In His Own Words
Frank Stanford: In Leenus Orth’s Words
The Art Of Imitation In Poetry Between Pablo Neruda & Frank Stanford
Frank Stanford Chapbook Assignment

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Ata Moharreri
Ata Moharreri

Written by Ata Moharreri

How a poet admits to low self-esteem: “I don’t enjamb enough.”— Mike Magnuson

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