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Laysee's Reviews > Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
by
by
Sep 8, 2019
From New and Selected Poems: Volume Two (2005) by Mary Oliver
It has been six months since I last read Mary Oliver’s poems. This past week as the weight of work bore down on me, I sought refuge in her verse, and read a couple each evening.
In an extraction of eleven poems from her collection of new poems from 2005, Oliver bade us pay attention to the natural world in every season. As she contemplated her role as a poet, she took inspiration from the ease with which nature eloquently declared its charms.
I felt a balm in my soul sharing Oliver’s nature study of the bees nuzzling against the roses, the white herons rising over blackwater, a honey locust tree in bloom, the thrush that heralds an early spring, the tern that wings its way on a summer’s day, or a tree that offers a ‘warm cave’ to the birds in autumn.
Below are a couple of poems that stood out for me:
White Herons Rises Over Blackwater
Oliver compared her job of putting words on a page to the greater brilliance found in the ‘verbal hilarity’ of a mockingbird or the pure gracefulness of a white heron. These words read like fresh dew drops.
… the white heron
rising
over the swamp
in the darkness,
his yellow eyes
and broad wings wearing
the light of the world
in the light of the world -
ah yes, I see him.
He is exactly
the poem
I wanted to write.
The. North Country
This poem celebrates spring and the thrush that makes its annual appearance.
………..What would spring be
without it? Mostly frogs. But don’t worry, he
arrives, year after year, humble, obedient
and gorgeous. You listen and you know
you could live a better life than you do, be
softer, kinder. And maybe this year you will
be able to do it.
A timely reminder that we can opt to be softer and kinder when our natural bent is to be just the reverse.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mar 29, 2019
The Truro Bear and Other Adventures (2008) and Red Birds (2008)
It has been a month since I last read from this devotional of poems. It is good to hear Mary Oliver’s voice again. It is always refreshing to see the world through her eyes.
This review is on selected poems from two collections published in 2008: The Truro Bear and Other Adventures and Red Birds. The poems contained her thoughts on two subjects: nature (the heron, the fish, the gray fox, the meadowlark, the panther, the pond, etc.) and self (ambition and dying). It amazes me how the most ordinary things can summon up contemplation that gives us pause.
The Gift
I love walking on the beach and occasionally picking up a seashell that catches my eye. In this poem, Oliver saw a gift in a shell tossed onto the beach by the ‘wind-bruised sea.’ She wondered how it remained intact. The shell now ‘held only the eventual, inevitable emptiness.’ But listen to this lovely thought:
There’s that - there’s always that.
Still what a house
to leave behind!
I held it
like the wisest of books
and imagined
its travels toward my hand.
now, my hand.
Featured in Red Birds (2008) are poems that show her love of animals that share our world. In Night Herons, Oliver observed the herons fishing at night. Only a poet with her sensitivity would have contemplated what it meant for the fish who were ‘full of fish happiness’ one moment and then became the herons’ supper the next. In Invitation, Oliver invited us to linger just to listen to the ‘musical battle’ of the goldfinches because their ‘melodious striving’ revealed the ‘sheer delight and gratitude...of being alive.’ The saddest poem is Red about two gray foxes that were run over by cars and how she carried them to the fields and watched them bleed to death ('Gray fox and gray fox. Red, red, red.')
Featured, too, in Red Birds (2008) are Oliver’s thoughts about mortality, this life, amassing things, and chasing our ambitions. The following poems are the ones that stood out for me.
The Orchard
This is a poem on feeding ambition and her epiphany:
Lo, and I have discovered
how soft bloom
turns to sweet fruit.
Lo, and I have discovered
all winds blow cold
at last,
and the leaves,
so pretty, so many,
vanish....
and the ripeness
of the apple
is its downfall
Sometimes
Death is something that comes ‘out of the dark’ or ‘out of the water.’ It is grotesque given it has ‘the head the size of a cat but muddy and without ears.’ Yet, right in the middle of seven stanzas we read:
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Self-Portrait
This is a contemplation on getting old. What a lovely poem!
though I’m not twenty
and won’t be again but ah! seventy. And still
in love with life. And still
full of beans.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Feb 17, 2019
Evidence (2009) by Mary Oliver
If you live in the city like I do, I wonder if you have sometimes pined for the woods or a pocket of green where you can be in communion with the natural world. I have discovered over and over again that reading Oliver’s poetry provides a transport of delight to beauty and wonder. With Oliver, nature rambles are the rich soil of contemplation. In this selection of eleven poems from Evidence (2009), Oliver called attention to the business of living and the sanctity of life.
In It Was Early Oliver woke with the dawn to look at the world – the owl under the pines, the mink with his bushy tail, the soft-eared mice, the pines heavy with cones – and was astounded by the many gifts that greeted her, which prompted this thought:
Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.
There is a lovely poem titled To Begin With, The Sweet Grass, in which she considered the ’the witchery of living' and bid us to treasure life, to give both ourselves and others a chance, to evolve and be more than ourselves.
We do one thing or another; we stay the same, or we change.
Congratulations, if
you have changed.
Here’s a question worthy of thought:
And, if you have not been enchanted by this adventure -
your life -
what would do for you?
In the poem, Evidence, Oliver reflected that memory can either be 'a golden bowl, or a basement without light'
Some memories I would give anything to forget.
Others I would not give up upon the point of
death, they are the bright hawks of my life.
And thus, we have a choice over what we wish to hold on to.
Lastly, Oliver invited us to take a lesson from nature:
And consider, always, every day, the determination
of the grass to grow despite the unending obstacles.
Today is a Sabbath Day. You can say I just read a poetic homily.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Jan 30, 2019
From Swan (2010) by Mary Oliver
The seven poems Oliver selected from Swan (2010) for inclusion in Devotions beckoned us to embrace life, especially, to embrace joy. More than just beautiful, they exude a sage-like quality.
These poems were inspired by what is often unobserved - Queen Anne’s Lace in an 'unworked field' making ‘all the loveliness it can’ or a swan ‘rising into the silvery air, an armful of white blossoms, a perfect commotion of silk and linen.’ They also steer our thoughts toward beneficent ways of approaching the hosts of things that worry us or claim our lives. Most of all, I love reading about how she went about walking in the woods.
Here are excerpts from two poems I love. The first is prose-like and too lovely not to reproduce in full.
Don’t hesitate
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches and power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
How I Go To The Woods
Ordinarily I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable.
I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree…..
...Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible.....
…If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - --
Jan 27, 2019
From A Thousand Mornings (2012) by Mary Oliver
From A Thousand Mornings (2012) is a meditative ensemble of ten poems whose dominant subject is water, be it the sea or the River Ganges. Other poems contain Oliver’s reflections on the approach of winter and her own Life Story against the infinite cycle in nature’s diurnal ebb and flow.
In Tides, Oliver’s keen eye surveyed the sea (‘blue gray green lavender’), old whalebones, white fish spines, barnacle-clad stones, and the ‘piled curvatures’ of seaweeds. There is a pleasing, relaxed contrast to the busyness of the sea pulling away, the gulls walking, seaweeds spilling over themselves. Oliver said,
And here you may find me
on almost any morning
walking along the shore so
light-footed so casual.
I appreciated the understated humor in this delightful poem, I Go Down To The Shore
I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in or moving out
and I say, oh, I am miserable,
what shall -
what should I do? And the sea says
in its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do.
There is no room for self-pity, is there?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
January 26, 2019
From Dog Songs (2013) by Mary Oliver
From Dog Songs (2013) is a heartwarming collection of poems that will resonate with readers who love dogs. Oliver wrote with deep affection for her dogs and devoted a handful to Percy ‘our new dog, named for the beloved poet.’
It is easy to see why one might perchance envy a dog’s life – ‘breaking the new snow with wild feet’ and ‘not thinking, not weighing anything, just running forward.’
Here’s a charming extract from the poem, Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night (Percy Three):
Tell me you love me, he says
Tell me again.
Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over
he gets to ask it.
I get to tell.
Aww…. a perfect devotion on an indolent Saturday evening.
- - - - - - - - -
January 25, 2019
From Blue Horses (2014) by Mary Oliver
’Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.’ (‘On Tintern Abbey’, William Worthsworth)
This review update is based on a selection of poems ‘From Blue Horses (2014)'. The eleven poems in this collection expressed the repose and comfort Oliver found in the natural world and quietly invited the reader to share her gratitude. She truly was a poet after the nature lover’s own heart.
The subject of these poems included the slippery green frog, stones on the beach, blueberries, a vulture’s wings, and the gorgeous bluebird. Reading the poems is like going on a nature ramble with her and seeing what we often take for granted with new eyes.
I also appreciate her idea of meditation, which was lounging under a tree and falling asleep. That it can be refreshing is evident in these lines:
On Meditating, Sort Of
‘Of course I wake up finally
thinking, how wonderful to be who I am,
made out of earth and water,
my own thoughts, my own fingerprints -
all that glorious, temporary stuff.’
There is a constancy or fidelity in nature elegantly communicated in my favorite poem in this collection:
Loneliness
I too have known loneliness
I too have known what it is to feel
misunderstood
rejected, and suddenly
not at all beautiful
Oh, Mother Earth,
your comfort is great, your arms never withhold.
It has saved my life to know this.
Your rivers flowing, your roses opening in the morning.
Oh, motions of tenderness.
Read Mary Oliver. We will look at nature quite differently.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Devotions is an exquisite anthology of poems by Mary Oliver who died on Jan 17, 2019. She was 83. This treasure trove, put together by Oliver herself, contains poetry from her first book of poetry, Voyage and Other Poems (1963), to her most recent collection, Felicity (2015).
Reading a couple of Oliver’s poems each morning is like having a devotion, a communion of sorts with the beauty that resides in the goodness around us. This review will be built up bit by bit at the breakfast table.
Jan 23, 2019
From Felicity
This selection of eleven poems is Mary’s reflections on love, her perceptive participation in the natural world, and her discovery of the things that matter. Four poems express the thankfulness one feels towards a beloved (a ‘gift’) and the pangs of impending or actual loss. A handful of poems draw attention to the miracle of redbird chicks chirping for food, whistling swans in a posture of prayer, and lilies bowing to the ‘tug of desire.’ Few poets write about nature with deep moving eloquence. With Oliver, nature almost always awakens an awareness of a larger interior world. Here’s a line from Whistling Swans:
“Rumi said, There is no proof of the soul.
But isn’t the return of spring and how it
springs up in our hearts a pretty good hint?”
There is a thoughtful poem titled Storage on the joy of uncluttering. Below is a fitting response to ‘things’:
Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful
fire! More room in your heart for love,
for the trees! For the birds who own
nothing - the reason they can fly.
Herein lies wisdom.
From New and Selected Poems: Volume Two (2005) by Mary Oliver
It has been six months since I last read Mary Oliver’s poems. This past week as the weight of work bore down on me, I sought refuge in her verse, and read a couple each evening.
In an extraction of eleven poems from her collection of new poems from 2005, Oliver bade us pay attention to the natural world in every season. As she contemplated her role as a poet, she took inspiration from the ease with which nature eloquently declared its charms.
I felt a balm in my soul sharing Oliver’s nature study of the bees nuzzling against the roses, the white herons rising over blackwater, a honey locust tree in bloom, the thrush that heralds an early spring, the tern that wings its way on a summer’s day, or a tree that offers a ‘warm cave’ to the birds in autumn.
Below are a couple of poems that stood out for me:
White Herons Rises Over Blackwater
Oliver compared her job of putting words on a page to the greater brilliance found in the ‘verbal hilarity’ of a mockingbird or the pure gracefulness of a white heron. These words read like fresh dew drops.
… the white heron
rising
over the swamp
in the darkness,
his yellow eyes
and broad wings wearing
the light of the world
in the light of the world -
ah yes, I see him.
He is exactly
the poem
I wanted to write.
The. North Country
This poem celebrates spring and the thrush that makes its annual appearance.
………..What would spring be
without it? Mostly frogs. But don’t worry, he
arrives, year after year, humble, obedient
and gorgeous. You listen and you know
you could live a better life than you do, be
softer, kinder. And maybe this year you will
be able to do it.
A timely reminder that we can opt to be softer and kinder when our natural bent is to be just the reverse.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mar 29, 2019
The Truro Bear and Other Adventures (2008) and Red Birds (2008)
It has been a month since I last read from this devotional of poems. It is good to hear Mary Oliver’s voice again. It is always refreshing to see the world through her eyes.
This review is on selected poems from two collections published in 2008: The Truro Bear and Other Adventures and Red Birds. The poems contained her thoughts on two subjects: nature (the heron, the fish, the gray fox, the meadowlark, the panther, the pond, etc.) and self (ambition and dying). It amazes me how the most ordinary things can summon up contemplation that gives us pause.
The Gift
I love walking on the beach and occasionally picking up a seashell that catches my eye. In this poem, Oliver saw a gift in a shell tossed onto the beach by the ‘wind-bruised sea.’ She wondered how it remained intact. The shell now ‘held only the eventual, inevitable emptiness.’ But listen to this lovely thought:
There’s that - there’s always that.
Still what a house
to leave behind!
I held it
like the wisest of books
and imagined
its travels toward my hand.
now, my hand.
Featured in Red Birds (2008) are poems that show her love of animals that share our world. In Night Herons, Oliver observed the herons fishing at night. Only a poet with her sensitivity would have contemplated what it meant for the fish who were ‘full of fish happiness’ one moment and then became the herons’ supper the next. In Invitation, Oliver invited us to linger just to listen to the ‘musical battle’ of the goldfinches because their ‘melodious striving’ revealed the ‘sheer delight and gratitude...of being alive.’ The saddest poem is Red about two gray foxes that were run over by cars and how she carried them to the fields and watched them bleed to death ('Gray fox and gray fox. Red, red, red.')
Featured, too, in Red Birds (2008) are Oliver’s thoughts about mortality, this life, amassing things, and chasing our ambitions. The following poems are the ones that stood out for me.
The Orchard
This is a poem on feeding ambition and her epiphany:
Lo, and I have discovered
how soft bloom
turns to sweet fruit.
Lo, and I have discovered
all winds blow cold
at last,
and the leaves,
so pretty, so many,
vanish....
and the ripeness
of the apple
is its downfall
Sometimes
Death is something that comes ‘out of the dark’ or ‘out of the water.’ It is grotesque given it has ‘the head the size of a cat but muddy and without ears.’ Yet, right in the middle of seven stanzas we read:
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Self-Portrait
This is a contemplation on getting old. What a lovely poem!
though I’m not twenty
and won’t be again but ah! seventy. And still
in love with life. And still
full of beans.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Feb 17, 2019
Evidence (2009) by Mary Oliver
If you live in the city like I do, I wonder if you have sometimes pined for the woods or a pocket of green where you can be in communion with the natural world. I have discovered over and over again that reading Oliver’s poetry provides a transport of delight to beauty and wonder. With Oliver, nature rambles are the rich soil of contemplation. In this selection of eleven poems from Evidence (2009), Oliver called attention to the business of living and the sanctity of life.
In It Was Early Oliver woke with the dawn to look at the world – the owl under the pines, the mink with his bushy tail, the soft-eared mice, the pines heavy with cones – and was astounded by the many gifts that greeted her, which prompted this thought:
Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.
There is a lovely poem titled To Begin With, The Sweet Grass, in which she considered the ’the witchery of living' and bid us to treasure life, to give both ourselves and others a chance, to evolve and be more than ourselves.
We do one thing or another; we stay the same, or we change.
Congratulations, if
you have changed.
Here’s a question worthy of thought:
And, if you have not been enchanted by this adventure -
your life -
what would do for you?
In the poem, Evidence, Oliver reflected that memory can either be 'a golden bowl, or a basement without light'
Some memories I would give anything to forget.
Others I would not give up upon the point of
death, they are the bright hawks of my life.
And thus, we have a choice over what we wish to hold on to.
Lastly, Oliver invited us to take a lesson from nature:
And consider, always, every day, the determination
of the grass to grow despite the unending obstacles.
Today is a Sabbath Day. You can say I just read a poetic homily.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Jan 30, 2019
From Swan (2010) by Mary Oliver
The seven poems Oliver selected from Swan (2010) for inclusion in Devotions beckoned us to embrace life, especially, to embrace joy. More than just beautiful, they exude a sage-like quality.
These poems were inspired by what is often unobserved - Queen Anne’s Lace in an 'unworked field' making ‘all the loveliness it can’ or a swan ‘rising into the silvery air, an armful of white blossoms, a perfect commotion of silk and linen.’ They also steer our thoughts toward beneficent ways of approaching the hosts of things that worry us or claim our lives. Most of all, I love reading about how she went about walking in the woods.
Here are excerpts from two poems I love. The first is prose-like and too lovely not to reproduce in full.
Don’t hesitate
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches and power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
How I Go To The Woods
Ordinarily I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable.
I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree…..
...Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible.....
…If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - --
Jan 27, 2019
From A Thousand Mornings (2012) by Mary Oliver
From A Thousand Mornings (2012) is a meditative ensemble of ten poems whose dominant subject is water, be it the sea or the River Ganges. Other poems contain Oliver’s reflections on the approach of winter and her own Life Story against the infinite cycle in nature’s diurnal ebb and flow.
In Tides, Oliver’s keen eye surveyed the sea (‘blue gray green lavender’), old whalebones, white fish spines, barnacle-clad stones, and the ‘piled curvatures’ of seaweeds. There is a pleasing, relaxed contrast to the busyness of the sea pulling away, the gulls walking, seaweeds spilling over themselves. Oliver said,
And here you may find me
on almost any morning
walking along the shore so
light-footed so casual.
I appreciated the understated humor in this delightful poem, I Go Down To The Shore
I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in or moving out
and I say, oh, I am miserable,
what shall -
what should I do? And the sea says
in its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do.
There is no room for self-pity, is there?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
January 26, 2019
From Dog Songs (2013) by Mary Oliver
From Dog Songs (2013) is a heartwarming collection of poems that will resonate with readers who love dogs. Oliver wrote with deep affection for her dogs and devoted a handful to Percy ‘our new dog, named for the beloved poet.’
It is easy to see why one might perchance envy a dog’s life – ‘breaking the new snow with wild feet’ and ‘not thinking, not weighing anything, just running forward.’
Here’s a charming extract from the poem, Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night (Percy Three):
Tell me you love me, he says
Tell me again.
Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over
he gets to ask it.
I get to tell.
Aww…. a perfect devotion on an indolent Saturday evening.
- - - - - - - - -
January 25, 2019
From Blue Horses (2014) by Mary Oliver
’Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.’ (‘On Tintern Abbey’, William Worthsworth)
This review update is based on a selection of poems ‘From Blue Horses (2014)'. The eleven poems in this collection expressed the repose and comfort Oliver found in the natural world and quietly invited the reader to share her gratitude. She truly was a poet after the nature lover’s own heart.
The subject of these poems included the slippery green frog, stones on the beach, blueberries, a vulture’s wings, and the gorgeous bluebird. Reading the poems is like going on a nature ramble with her and seeing what we often take for granted with new eyes.
I also appreciate her idea of meditation, which was lounging under a tree and falling asleep. That it can be refreshing is evident in these lines:
On Meditating, Sort Of
‘Of course I wake up finally
thinking, how wonderful to be who I am,
made out of earth and water,
my own thoughts, my own fingerprints -
all that glorious, temporary stuff.’
There is a constancy or fidelity in nature elegantly communicated in my favorite poem in this collection:
Loneliness
I too have known loneliness
I too have known what it is to feel
misunderstood
rejected, and suddenly
not at all beautiful
Oh, Mother Earth,
your comfort is great, your arms never withhold.
It has saved my life to know this.
Your rivers flowing, your roses opening in the morning.
Oh, motions of tenderness.
Read Mary Oliver. We will look at nature quite differently.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Devotions is an exquisite anthology of poems by Mary Oliver who died on Jan 17, 2019. She was 83. This treasure trove, put together by Oliver herself, contains poetry from her first book of poetry, Voyage and Other Poems (1963), to her most recent collection, Felicity (2015).
Reading a couple of Oliver’s poems each morning is like having a devotion, a communion of sorts with the beauty that resides in the goodness around us. This review will be built up bit by bit at the breakfast table.
Jan 23, 2019
From Felicity
This selection of eleven poems is Mary’s reflections on love, her perceptive participation in the natural world, and her discovery of the things that matter. Four poems express the thankfulness one feels towards a beloved (a ‘gift’) and the pangs of impending or actual loss. A handful of poems draw attention to the miracle of redbird chicks chirping for food, whistling swans in a posture of prayer, and lilies bowing to the ‘tug of desire.’ Few poets write about nature with deep moving eloquence. With Oliver, nature almost always awakens an awareness of a larger interior world. Here’s a line from Whistling Swans:
“Rumi said, There is no proof of the soul.
But isn’t the return of spring and how it
springs up in our hearts a pretty good hint?”
There is a thoughtful poem titled Storage on the joy of uncluttering. Below is a fitting response to ‘things’:
Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful
fire! More room in your heart for love,
for the trees! For the birds who own
nothing - the reason they can fly.
Herein lies wisdom.
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Reading Progress
January 16, 2019
–
Started Reading
January 22, 2019
– Shelved
January 22, 2019
–
Finished Reading
February 17, 2019
– Shelved as:
five-star-books
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Lovely, Laysee! I'm looking forward to following your daily devotions :) I can see where I need to read Mary Oliver. You are definitely inspiring me.
Angela M wrote: "Beautiful, Laysee!"Thanks, Angela. It's a gem!
Candi wrote: "Lovely, Laysee! I'm looking forward to following your daily devotions :) I can see where I need to read Mary Oliver. You are definitely inspiring me."Oh thanks, Candi! Credit goes to Mary Oliver. Her poems are inspiring. You will enjoy them.
This is such a beautiful tribute to this poet and her work, Laysee! Thank you for bringing it to my attention! :)
Jaline wrote: "This is such a beautiful tribute to this poet and her work, Laysee! Thank you for bringing it to my attention! :)"You're welcome, Jaline. Oliver's poetry is easy to love. It is literary writing you'd appreciate, I can say with certainty.
Such a lovely review, Laysee, this is a poet I keep meaning to read and still have not read any of her collections.
Cheri wrote: "Such a lovely review, Laysee, this is a poet I keep meaning to read and still have not read any of her collections."Oliver wrote heartful poetry and you may just find her much to your taste, Cheryl. Thanks for stopping by. :-)
You have evoked Oliver's sense of wonder for the natural world with sensitivity and wonder, Laysee, making justice to her poems.
I second all of the comments about your review. Will revisit soon.
Dolors wrote: "You have evoked Oliver's sense of wonder for the natural world with sensitivity and wonder, Laysee, making justice to her poems."It has been a treat reading Oliver's poems, Dolors. Thank you so much for your lovely comment.
Deyanne wrote: "I second all of the comments about your review. Will revisit soon."Thank you, Deyanne. Oliver's poetry bears re-visiting. Enjoy!
Kalliope wrote: "These are wonderful gems, Laysee."Indeed, Oliver was a rare gem. Thank you, Kalliope.
Oh Laysee. Thank you so much for this beautiful review. My eyes are wet from reading the lovely excerpts you featured. I need to read more of this poet.
Robin wrote: "Oh Laysee. Thank you so much for this beautiful review. My eyes are wet from reading the lovely excerpts you featured. I need to read more of this poet."You're very welcome, Robin. Your response is one I understood 'cause her poems have the same effect on me. Thank you for sharing the poetic wonder.
What a review. Thank you Laysee. I have Why I Wake Early on my TBR.
Celia wrote: "What a review. Thank you Laysee. I have Why I Wake Early on my TBR."You're welcome, Celia. It'll be a treat to read "Why I Wake Early", a 2004 publication. I have a small selection of the poems in this anthology and look forward to them.
Gosh, I love these samples and your reflections on them, Laysee! I'm really enjoying your updates :)
Candi wrote: "Gosh, I love these samples and your reflections on them, Laysee! I'm really enjoying your updates :)"
Hi Candi, I'm only too pleased to share some samples of beautiful writing and even more delighted to know that you're reading and enjoying them. Thanks so much!
Laysee and Friends, I am reading Why I Wake Early right now. I think Oliver died about 2 weeks ago. I find it fitting to honor her by enjoying her works.
Celia wrote: "Laysee and Friends, I am reading Why I Wake Early right now. I think Oliver died about 2 weeks ago. I find it fitting to honor her by enjoying her works."Hi Celia, yes, Oliver died on Jan 17. It is indeed fitting to honor her by enjoying her literary compositions. Glad to have your company while I'm reading her poems. I look forward to your review of 'Why I Wake Early.'
Elyse wrote: "Absolutely extraordinary Those excerpts hit our guts!!!!
Thank you for your lovely review!
And thanks to Celia for the information she shared too.
My heart is filled as I drift off to sleep now..."
Thanks, Elyse. You're right about how Oliver's poems have a way of filling our hearts. Glad they made good bedtime reading for you. :-)
A joy to linger here over your descriptions and choice morsels of Mary's poetry. Thank you.
Caterina wrote: "A joy to linger here over your descriptions and choice morsels of Mary's poetry. Thank you."Hi Caterina! Thank you so much for sampling these 'choice morsels' of Oliver's poetry. Am delighted you enjoyed them. :-) Oliver's work deserves to be more widely read.
Laysee - want to let you know. At Catholic Mass today, during the sermon, Father quoted one of Oliver's poems. Something about finding things in the ordinary. I am looking for the poem... maybe you know which one it is. It REALLY made me feel good that I could tell Father that I have found Mary Oliver too. Father really loves the significance of her poems and verse. WOW!!
Celia wrote: "Laysee - want to let you know. At Catholic Mass today, during the sermon, Father quoted one of Oliver's poems. Something about finding things in the ordinary. I am looking for the poem... maybe you..."Wow, Celia. How thrilling to hear Mary Oliver's poem read during Mass! I wish I knew which poem it was. A dominant theme in her poems is about the ordinary things and how they mean so much more. Wonder if you could ask the priest for the title of the poem.
Laysee wrote: "Celia wrote: "Laysee - want to let you know. At Catholic Mass today, during the sermon, Father quoted one of Oliver's poems. Something about finding things in the ordinary. I am looking for the poe..."I'll send him an email and see if he responds. This is not my regular church and I do not know him very well.
I love the idea of reading a poem or two in the morning like a devotional. I have five books of her poetry. What a perfect way for me to revisit this inspired and insightful poet.
I would love to know the poem that touched you as well. As Laysee so beautifully commented she writes often of the extraordinary in the every day occurrences. Best of luck. I plan to reread her works.
Celia, might this be the poem? It is titled ‘Mindful.’Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
Thank you for the beautiful share again this morning, Laysee :)
Candi wrote: "Thank you for the beautiful share again this morning, Laysee :)"Hi Candi! You're welcome. Thanks so much for re-visiting this review whenever I update it. It's a joy to share Oliver's poetry with interested friends. Have a great Sunday!
Laysee, thank you for this beautiful review and the extra effort in providing so much to think about for me, the potential reader. When I get Devotions, I will read your review in conjunction with it. I've made a note to do that.
"And the sea saysin its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do."
And Laysee says
in her lovely voice:
Enjoy Mary Oliver.
And I'm doing just that. These are wonderful little snippets! Thank you for sharing them and offering your inspired commentary along the way.
Celia wrote: "Laysee, thank you for this beautiful review and the extra effort in providing so much to think about for me, the potential reader. When I get Devotions, I will read your review in conjunction with ..."Oh wow! Celia, I love how Oliver's poetry is inspiring interest and generating some lovely interactions on GR with promise of future conversations to follow. Appreciate us sharing a mutual love of Oliver's work.
Steve wrote: ""And the sea saysin its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do."
And Laysee says
in her lovely voice:
Enjoy Mary Oliver."
And Steve says
in his lovely voice:
Reading Oliver is no work at all.
Thank you, Steve! So pleased you enjoyed these little gems. :-)
Elixir for the parched soul, Laysee! Thank you for this generosity of showering me with Oliver's magic; the invigoration is difficult to put in words and so is putting away reading another of her collection. Ah, bliss!
Seemita wrote: "Elixir for the parched soul, Laysee! Thank you for this generosity of showering me with Oliver's magic; the invigoration is difficult to put in words and so is putting away reading another of her c..."Ah, bliss when you stop by, Seemita! I'm reading this anthology bit by bit as if I were rationing a scarce commodity. I also find myself turning to it more when my soul is feeling parched. Good poetry like hers is, as you so rightly put it, an elixir. Thank you, Seemita.
Laysee, thank you for the gentle "nudge" to revisit and honor Mary Oliver. Because of you, one book group is choosing to read "anything" by her and share next month. I am savoring my time in the pages of her poetry and in the joy and blessings that life offers. Reviews will follow later.
Deyanne wrote: "Laysee, thank you for the gentle "nudge" to revisit and honor Mary Oliver. Because of you, one book group is choosing to read "anything" by her and share next month. I am savoring my time in the pa..."Deyanne, so good to hear that you and your book group are reading Oliver's poems. I hope you will love them as much as I do.
No question. I have seven of her books I am sharing. So glad to be enjoying her insights as I look forward to spring.
Thank you Laysee for reminding us of why we love Mary Oliver's work so much! Borrowing her collections from the library always leaves me with a problem: they have to go back, but it's impossible to be "finished" reading them ....
Jim wrote: "Thank you Laysee for reminding us of why we love Mary Oliver's work so much! Borrowing her collections from the library always leaves me with a problem: they have to go back, but it's impossible to be "finished" reading them..."You're most welcome, Jim. Thank you for reading and leaving a lovely comment. So pleased to know that you love Oliver's work too. This anthology is about 450 pages - a selection of her writing over a life time. It is indeed not possible to be "finished" reading it in more sense than one. I dip into this treasure trove every now and then, and am grateful to the friend who gave it to me. It is a gift that keeps on giving.
Jeannie wrote: "Awesome review!"Thank you, Jeannie. I need to read more of her poems in this collection.
you might want to check out CHOUETTE---it's amazingly poetic/involves nature/animals...same with The butterfly bruises !
Laysee, I am so delighted to see that you too love Mary Oliver and this is a superb review. I have yet to own one of her books and could not decide between Devotions or New and Selected Poems or another volume of her earlier work. Although Devotions really appeals as an all round collection I felt I perhaps wanted to start with a smaller volume that I could just keep my bed and reflect on. Would love your thoughts or recommendations.
Megan wrote: "Laysee, I am so delighted to see that you too love Mary Oliver and this is a superb review. I have yet to own one of her books and could not decide between Devotions or New and Selected Poems or another volume of her earlier work. Although Devotions really appeals as an all round collection I felt I perhaps wanted to start with a smaller volume that I could just keep my bed and reflect on. Would love your thoughts or recommendation."Thanks, Megan. Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets. You may wish to try Thirst, a small collection of poems.
