POEMS FOR MARY OLIVER
You Saw the
Beauty
Quotes from
your imagination
ran freely.
The
heartstrings were tugged frequently.
Things you saw
and felt flowed along
with the
natural order of things.
In your eyes,
everything was beautiful.
Life’s Journey
Wisdom was
found on your journey.
peaceful rivers
flowed through
your mind.
The homestead
of living was where
you camped.
Smoke from the
chimney led you home.
The Trail Leads
Home
Beautiful
creations came to life
Along your
trail.
The tales of
truth were evident.
There were
crumbs you tasted
along the way,
until you reached your home.
Mary Oliver mural, Boston, Massachusetts -- Lawrence Ciarall
Invitation
ReplyDeleteOh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.
-- Mary Oliver
[Exerpted and formatted differently on the mural at 131 Cambridge Street, completed in November 2017. She died in January 2019.]
Oliver began writing poetry at 14. She studied at The Ohio State university and Vassar college but did not graduate. “I was very careful never to take an interesting job. I took lots of jobs. But if you have an interesting job you get interested in it. I also began in those years to keep early hours.... If anybody has a job and starts at 9, there’s no reason why they can’t get up at 4:30 or 5 and write for a couple of hours, and give their employers their second-best effort of the day -- which is what I did.” She published her 1st book of poetry, No Voayage and Other Poems," in 1963 at 28. Her 5th collection, "American Primitive," won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984.