I recently found
Mary Oliver’s collection New and Selected
Poems: Volume Two. The connection I
have to her poems is ethereal and pleasing in every sense of the word. If I have a model to follow, it would most
certainly be Mary Oliver. I have talked
about her in several reviews, so this one will only include selections from
volume two.
“Work, Sometimes.” “I was sad all day, and why not.
There I was, books piled on both sides of the table, paper stacked up,
words falling off my tongue. // The robins had a long time singing, and now it
was beginning to rain. // What are we sure of?
Happiness isn’t a town on a map, or an early arrival, or a job well
done, but good work ongoing. Which is
not likely to be the trifling around with a poem. // Then it began raining
hard, and the flowers in the yard were full of lively fragrance. // You have
had days like this, no doubt. And wasn’t
it wonderful, finally, to leave the room? Ah, what a moment! // As for myself, I swung
the door open. And there was the
wordless, singing world. And I ran for
my life.” (6).

“The Faces of Deer.” When for too long I don’t go deep enough into the woods to see them, they
begin to enter my dreams. Yes, there
they are, in the pinewoods of my inner life.
I want to live a life full of modesty and praise. Each hoof of each animal makes the sign of a
heart as it touches then lifts away from the ground. Unless you believe that heaven is very near, how
will you find it? Their eyes are pools in
which one would be content, on any summer afternoon, to swim away through the door
of the world. Then, love and its blessing.
Then: heaven.” (33).

Like so many of her poems,
I felt a deep connection. Sometime back,
I was out for a pre-dawn walk, when two birds flashed across my eyes—only a foot
or two away—and I scared the owl, which flew up into a tree, not more than 10 feet
away. I stood there in a staring contest
as we sized each other up. Then she took
off and flew away.
Mary Oliver’s collection,
New and Selected Poems: Volume Two, will
take you places to see things in a new light. 5 stars.
--Chiron, 6/10/17
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