Mary Oliver and friend
into the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing –
that the light is everything”
Wow—those words, from one of the poems below, are typical of the shimmering and mystic grace of one of our best and most spiritual of living poets.
Here’s three beauties from Mary Oliver (with a capsule bio):
The Old Poets of China”
Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe
that I do not want it. Now I understand
why the old poets of China went so far and high
into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.—————–
“Praying”
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patcha few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorwayinto thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.——————
“The Ponds”
Every year
the lilies
are so perfect
I can hardly believetheir lapped light crowding
the black,
mid-summer ponds.
Nobody could count all of them –the muskrats swimming
among the pads and the grasses
can reach out
their muscular arms and touchonly so many, they are that
rife and wild.
But what in this world
is perfect?I bend closer and see
how this one is clearly lopsided –
and that one wears an orange blight –
and this one is a glossy cheekhalf nibbled away –
and that one is a slumped purse
full of its own
unstoppable decay.Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled –
to cast aside the weight of factsand maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am lookinginto the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing –
that the light is everything — that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.
————
Mary Oliver, born Sept. 10, 1935, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
American poet whose work reflects a deep communion with the natural world.
Oliver attended Ohio State University and Vassar College but did not earn a degree. She worked for a time as a secretary for the sister of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay’s influence is apparent in Oliver’s first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems (1963). These lyrical nature poems are set in a variety of locales, especially the Ohio of Oliver’s youth. Her childhood plays a more central role in The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems (1972), in which she attempted to re-create the past through memory and myth. The Night Traveler (1978) explores the themes of birth, decay, and death through the conceit of a journey into the underworld of classical mythology. In these poems Oliver’s fluent imagery weaves together the worlds of humans, animals, and plants.
Her volume American Primitive (1983), which won a Pulitzer Prize, glorifies the natural world, reflecting the American fascination with the ideal of the pastoral life as it was first expressed by Henry David Thoreau. In House of Light (1990) Oliver explores the rewards of solitude in nature. New and Selected Poems (1992), which won a National Book Award, White Pine (1994), Blue Pastures (1995), and West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems (1997) are later collections.
Oliver also wrote about the writing of poetry in two slender but rich volumes, A Poetry Handbook (1995) and Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse (1998). Winter Hours (1999) includes poetry, prose poems, and essays on other poets.
Biography from: britannica.comAdvertisement
