( Owls and Other Fantasies p10) - by noticing such in the world we are then able to respond with gestures that are honourable, partake in dialogues that are loving.

At the River Clarion by Mary Oliver, from Evidence: Poems, Beacon Press. This happens when we intuitively identify with that ‘wild silky part of ourselves.’ Noticing, as in her poem Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night, the ‘expressive sounds’ a dog makes when ‘he turns upside down, his four paws in the air /and his eyes dark and fervent’ ( Dog Songs p51), the motion of a swan over water, as in her poem The Swan, and their ‘miraculous muscles’ and ‘clouds’ of wings. keeps coming, touching me, passing by on its long journey, its pale, infallible voice singing. Suffering is real, lament is necessary, but so too more life-giving is our capacity for joy and re-awakening. It also invites us to turn our attention towards those things which are sustaining, nourishing, offer beauty. Her poems capture the human spirit and nature’s complexity with wonder and awe. Never afraid to shed the pretense of academic poetry, never shy of letting the power of an image lie in unadorned language, Mary Oliver offers us poems of arresting beauty that reflect on the power of love and the great gifts of the natural world. Increasingly Mary Oliver’s poetry urges the reader to choose to live a life that contains empathy, connection, presence, this ‘only once’ experience of life. She described her work as loving the world. Both these volumes of poetry were published in the years soon after the death of Mary Oliver’s partner for over 40 years, Molly Malone Cook in 2005.

Mary oliver evidence poems