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caobooks's review against another edition
4.0
Oh, Mary Oliver, the earth is more beautiful because you placed your words on it.
kiaraliketiara's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
laurenmichellebrock's review against another edition
5.0
Sensual gleanings on the natural world, Mary Oliver brought me both to laughter and tears. This collection is a quiet, studious ode to nature and its incredible detail, that which Oliver observes with devotion and vigor.
katiegilley's review against another edition
5.0
Some things, say the wise ones who know everything,
are not living. I say,
you live your life your way and leave me alone.
This collection by Mary Oliver, published in 2005, was perfect for slow reading, just before scooting down into my bed.
Now he left his chestnut colored throat
and delivers such a cantering praise –
for what?
For the early morning, the taste of the spider,
for his small cup of life
that he drinks from every day, knowing it will refill.
What a thought to fall asleep to! When I think of Mary Oliver, I think of hope, gratitude, and joy, which is exactly where I want to be putting my focus.
are not living. I say,
you live your life your way and leave me alone.
This collection by Mary Oliver, published in 2005, was perfect for slow reading, just before scooting down into my bed.
Now he left his chestnut colored throat
and delivers such a cantering praise –
for what?
For the early morning, the taste of the spider,
for his small cup of life
that he drinks from every day, knowing it will refill.
What a thought to fall asleep to! When I think of Mary Oliver, I think of hope, gratitude, and joy, which is exactly where I want to be putting my focus.
savaging's review against another edition
3.0
When Mary Oliver becomes unbearable to me I imagine two things:
1) That the revolution has already happened, and ALL of us are free to roam New England shorelines and write about pebbles and birds without thinking of the war and horror and exploitation happening elsewhere.
2) Even still, deep down Mary Oliver is ruminating, desperately, panicked, over cancer and parasites and gangrene, and she writes only words of beauty and happiness because that counter-balances her muddling soul.
Two leaps of the imagination, but how else am I supposed to get through poetry as cheery and faithful as this? Though all the same there are some bits delicious all on their own, like this ending of the poem about the whelk egg casing ("Something"):
"The egg case of the whelk
sits on my shelf in front of, as it happens, Blake.
Sometimes I dream
that everything in the world is here, in my room,
in a great closet, named and orderly,
and I am here too, in front of it,
hardly able to see for the flash and the brightness--
and sometimes I am that madcap person clapping my hands and singing;
and sometimes I am that quiet person down on my knees."
1) That the revolution has already happened, and ALL of us are free to roam New England shorelines and write about pebbles and birds without thinking of the war and horror and exploitation happening elsewhere.
2) Even still, deep down Mary Oliver is ruminating, desperately, panicked, over cancer and parasites and gangrene, and she writes only words of beauty and happiness because that counter-balances her muddling soul.
Two leaps of the imagination, but how else am I supposed to get through poetry as cheery and faithful as this? Though all the same there are some bits delicious all on their own, like this ending of the poem about the whelk egg casing ("Something"):
"The egg case of the whelk
sits on my shelf in front of, as it happens, Blake.
Sometimes I dream
that everything in the world is here, in my room,
in a great closet, named and orderly,
and I am here too, in front of it,
hardly able to see for the flash and the brightness--
and sometimes I am that madcap person clapping my hands and singing;
and sometimes I am that quiet person down on my knees."
thehappybookwyrm's review against another edition
Oh the feminine urge to abandon everything and run into the wilderness.
michblue52's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I saw the eclipse and had to read poetry.