Sunday, April 7, 2019

Mary Bone writes




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 illustrationMary Oliver mural, Boston, Massachusetts -- Lawrence Ciarall


1 comment:

  1. Invitation

    Oh 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.

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