Cindy on May 13th, 2010
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination.” — Mary Oliver
“Wild Geese” is another favorite by our old friend Mary Oliver, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry we’ve explored in previous posts. Listening to Anne Lamott’s Word by Word, an audio CD on creative writing, I learned that Lamott posted this poem near her desk — and advises all writers and artists to do the same.
“Wild Geese” touched a tender place in my soul. Like so many friends of mine, I was taught as a child to obey the edicts of the organized religion my family practiced. I was terrified of making mistakes — and terrified of disappointing a punitive, unforgiving God. (Not to mention disappointing my parents and teachers.) No matter how “good” I was, or how closely I followed the rules and colored within the lines, I still felt unworthy. A nasty inner critic took up residence inside my head, too, sitting right next to the punitive God.
Today, I follow a strong code of ethics and my own faith, but no longer allow fear to constrict my life or narrow my view. As Mary Oliver reminds me, we were all made to shine our creative light, and to dance freely in this gorgeous world of ours. — CL
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 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.
– Reprinted from Owls and Other Fantasies, by Mary Oliver; Beacon Press; 2003.
Cindy on May 2nd, 2010
What more could I do with wild words?” — Mary Oliver
I’m a cat lover and a morning person, so Mary Oliver‘s “Morning” spoke to me the first time I read it. And each time I revisit the poem, something else strikes me.
Last week, for instance, a student in one of my workshops told me that list-making helps her get started when she’s trying to write a piece. Note how the first few lines of Oliver’s poem, below, work as a list of her morning observations. And note how the cat becomes a metaphor for “wild words,” and how, once again, the most ordinary experiences are sheer poetry. — CL
Morning
By Mary Oliver
Salt shining behind its glass cylinder.
Milk in a blue bowl. The yellow linoleum.
The cat stretching her black body from the pillow.
The way she makes her curvaceous response to the small, kind gesture.
Then laps the bowl clean.
Then wants to go out into the world
where she leaps lightly and for no apparent reason across the lawn,
then sits, perfectly still, in the grass.
I watch her a little while, thinking:
what more could I do with wild words?
I stand in the cold kitchen, bowing down to her.
I stand in the cold kitchen, everything wonderful around me.
–Reprinted from New and Selected Poems, by Mary Oliver; Beacon Press; Boston; 2005.
–Top Photo: Our wonderful cat, Jack, was a “wild thing” from the local animal shelter. –
Cindy on January 20th, 2010
And there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own.” — Mary Oliver
Part Two of “Poems to inspire,” a new weekly series ….
I admire the way Mary Oliver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, talks about “voices” in this poem. In writing workshops, we often discuss the voice we hear in every writer’s work. And we listen hard to find our own voice, which isn’t so easy. There’s always a cacophony of inner critics and advisers inside our heads — former teachers, co-workers, spiritual directors, family members, and friends. “The Journey” brings shivers of recognition each time I read it aloud in class. It urges us to make our own path; to listen to the one true voice inside. –CL
THE JOURNEY
By Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.
– Reprinted from New and Selected Poems, by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press); 1992
– Top photo “Journey” by Cindy La Ferle –
Cindy on November 19th, 2008
“Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.” — Carl Sandburg
There’s an article on sidewalk poetry this week in the Christian Science Monitor. Permanently stamped on city sidewalks, poetry is part of a new public arts project in St. Paul, Minn. This thrills me no end, since I’ve always thought poetry should be a part of everyday life — not reserved for lofty occasions like funerals or retirement parties or 50th birthday bashes.
Poetry inspired me early on. A quirky only child, I spent a fair amount of time reading alone in my pale blue bedroom or in a wooden playhouse in my backyard. I wasn’t entirely antisocial, but found many of my best friends in a parallel universe of words occupying a small bookshelf in my closet. And while I never considered myself a poet, I composed silly limericks while the neighborhood kids played dodge ball.
I like to encourage everyone to make a habit of reading poetry. Reading a poem a day will change the way you look at your world, and if you happen to be a writer, it will enhance your own work. Start with accessible contemporary poets like Mary Oliver, Jane Kenyon, and David Whyte. They’re easy to digest — but soulful and satisfying.
And you if like your poetry with a twist, try Billy Collins.
Collins (also an only child) served as Poet Laurete of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He just published another fabulous poetry collection, Ballistics, which will appeal to even the most incorrigible cynic who claims to dislike poetry. Like his legions of devoted fans, I admire how Collins illuminates the truth in the smallest details of ordinary life. And many of his poems are laugh-out-loud funny. Can you tell how much I love this guy? Here’s one of my new favorites:
Evasive Maneuvers
By Billy Collins
I grew up hiding from the other children.
I would break off from the pack on its patrol of streets every Saturday
and end up alone behind a hedge
or down a dim hallway in a strange basement.
No one ever came looking for me,
which only added to the excitement.
I used to hide from adults, too,
mostly behind my mother’s long coat
or her floral dress depending on the season.
I tried to learn how to walk
between my father’s steps while he walked
like the trick poodle I had seen on television.
And I hid behind books,
usually one of the volumes of the encyclopedia
that was kept behind the glass in a bookcase,
the letters of the alphabet in gold.
Before I knew how to read,
I sat in an armchair in the living room
and turned the pages, without a clue
about the worlds that were pressed
between D and F, M and O, W and Z.
Maybe this explains why
I looked out the bedroom window
first thing this morning
at the heavy trees, low gray clouds,
and said the word gastropod out loud,
and having no idea what it meant,
went downstairs and looked it up
then hid in the woods from my wife and our dog.
–from Ballistics, copyright 2008 by Billy Collins; Random House
“Wild Geese” is another favorite by our old friend Mary Oliver, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry we’ve explored in previous posts. Listening to Anne Lamott’s Word by Word, an audio CD on creative writing, I learned that Lamott posted this poem near her desk — and advises all writers and artists to do the same.
