Mary Oliver has died.

[nolabear]

Last edited Thu Jan 17, 2019, 07:51 PM - Edit history (1)

For those of us that need poetry like we need air, it’s a loss of a perfect soul. May she cross easy.

Link to tweet

The Swan

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

- Mary Oliver

[niyad]

1. requiescat in pace

[Guilded Lilly]

2. She will be with us for eternity.

[MLAA]

3. Rest In Peace, Mary Oliver.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. We start each morning with one of her poems...

Rest in peace, Mary, and thanks for sharing your beauty

[CousinIT]

5. Oh DAMN. One of my favorite poets!

[nolabear]

7. She spoke to so many people.

Sadly but maybe poignantly too, lots of people will discover her today.

[Shanti Mama]

6. Her words often took my breath away.

A true loss. May another fine woman rise to speak to and for us similarly.

[babydollhead]

8. WILD GEESE by Mary Oliver

WILD GEESE BY MARY OLIVER

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.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

[applegrove]

13. Beautiful. Before my mom died I was looking at poems. My mom was

a forest, country girl. I came across Oliver's poem Sleeping in the Forest. But I thought it was too gloomy. Then my mom died and I was with her the whole time. And it was terrible. And suddenly the poem lifted me up. So we used it at her funeral. Such is great poetry:

Sleeping In The Forest

I thought the earth remembered me, she 
took me back so tenderly, arranging 
her dark skirts, her pockets 
full of lichens and seeds. I slept 
as never before, a stone 
on the riverbed, nothing 
between me and the white fire of the stars 
but my thoughts, and they floated 
light as moths among the branches 
of the perfect trees. All night 
I heard the small kingdoms breathing 
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night 
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling 
with a luminous doom. By morning 
I had vanished at least a dozen times 
into something better.

- Mary Oliver

http://www.poetseers.org/contemporary-poets/mary-oliver/mary-oliver-poems/sleeping-in-the-forest/index.html

[babydollhead]

21. That is a beautiful poem . Mary Oliver is comfort.

[Mrs. Overall]

9. Such an amazing poet and woman.

A few years ago I was part of group that had the honor of a question/answer session with her before one of her readings. Her wisdom about life and art extended far beyond her poetry. I took pages and pages of notes on her responses. I need to find those again and reread them.

Her book Dream Work is one of my all-time favorite collections of poetry.

[Hekate]

10. Oh how sad. Her poetry is exquisite, heart shattering...

[femmedem]

11. Decades ago, her poetry helped me through the loss of my fiance to suicide.

[nolabear]

12. So many have had that experience.

I’m sorry you had that experience. And happy her words helped.

[Hekate]

14. The little I can see of this poem is so lovely, but the Paris Review demands a membership...

Is there any chance you could post the whole thing?

[Mrs. Overall]

15. Here is the entire poem:

The Swan

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

- Mary Oliver

[Hekate]

17. Ah! It pierces the heart.

Thank you so much.

[nolabear]

16. My apologies! I added the text to the post.

[Hekate]

18. Thank you so much, nolabear

Thank you

[applegrove]

19. From the New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/27/what-mary-olivers-critics-dont-understand/amp?__twitter_impression=true

[llmart]

20. One of my all time favorite poets.

So sad to hear she's gone.