Red Bird

I had the privilege of seeing Mary Oliver in person; her physical appearance was so like her poetry. Human, present, honest and brilliant. A woman asked her a question, then the woman began to cry and the audience came to a slightly embarrassed quiet. Mary called out "Are you crying?" The woman barely answered, but one could hear her say "yes". "Good for you" said Mary, which just about brought the house down with sympathy and relief. This was shortly after her partner died; the book is full of her courage, grief and ability to recognize the wonders in life even as her heart is aching. A must read for every woman who has ever expressed a love of poetry.

Sit down with an old friend.Like William Stafford , Mary Oliver is a poet you'd like to have dinner with. Her poems involve us with nature and its impact on our souls.A rallying cry for the preservation of all living things.

Are you familiar with the poetry of Mary Oliver?" I asked a student once in the hope of beginning a conversation on the poem "Wild Geese," a gem that contains the lines You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. en route to the statement "Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,/the world offers itself to your imagination." This was the line I wanted in the hope of beginning a conversation on inspiration. "I think so," the young woman squinted, the better to scan a distant memory. "I think that's the lady who writes about, like, her dog, Percy, I think and trees. That her?" "You can start there," I said. "And you will get to Mary Oliver." Because Mary Oliver's poetry is about this moment in this world in this light in this weather, alone or with the dog or on the way to something or nothing. It's about being here and loving it. I believe there is nothing worth saying about Mary Oliver. Better to spend the time reading her work, or revisiting the magic of the landscape of your life. Her new collection Red Bird is her 12th volume of published poems. Here she speaks to the beauty of the ordinary, the environment, and the people of the world who suffer at the hands of those who love power. The world offers itself to your imagination. Accept the invitation and walk with this wonderful woman from Provincetown, Massachusetts.

How beautifully we are invited in this most beautiful of Mary Oliver's books, to cease our restless strivings, to simply stand still, to listen, to watch, and to breathe in in gratitude for all that Life presents! Her words paint the invitation for us in tones that are sometimes as gentle as water-colours, sometimes as vibrant as a rich oil painting, revealing her awareness in the moment, telling us so much about her own love for life in all its forms. One of her great gifts is that ability to draw us to her as well as to the miracle of life around us, so that we have the feeling of walking the same path with her in companionable joy each moment. - It has been a great read, one that has brought much peace and a feeling of tranquillity and wellbeing to my spirit.

Mary Oliver's simple, spiritual, nature infused poetry was never better. She teaches us all to watch all the details of Gods creations without preaching. We learn from the movement of her poetry, to recognize a cardinal when he lands, to know the names of all of natures wonders: pine needles and prairie dogs, cypress and elm,and we love the class as we learn. She faces life's curve balls with the wit and eye of a portrait painter who sees the tattered dress she wears as a badge not a burden. And she is aging so gracefully. I hope I do as well.