Dog Songs

 

Dog Songs by Mary Oliver

Poetry

2015 Penguin Books (first published in 2013)

Finished on April 28, 2021

Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

Mary Oliver's Dog Songs is a celebration of the special bond between human and dog, as understood through the poet's relationships to the canines that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. Oliver's poems begin in the small everyday moments familiar to all dog lovers, but through her extraordinary vision, these observations become higher meditations on the world and our place in it.

Dog Songs includes visits with old friends, like Oliver's beloved Percy, and introduces still others in poems of love and laughter, heartbreak and grief. Throughout, the many dogs of Oliver's life merge as fellow travelers and as guides, uniquely able to open our eyes to the lessons of the moment and the joys of nature and connection.

Dog Songs is my final selection of Mary Oliver's poetry, which I chose to read for National Poetry Month. While this collection includes 36 poems and essays, only two spoke to me.

How It Is With Us, And How It Is With Them

If You Are Holding This Book

I had hoped for more meaningful (and relatable) poems, but this was a disappointment.

Blue Horses

 

Blue Horses by Mary Oliver

Poetry

2014 Penguin Books

Finished on April 18, 2021

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In this stunning collection of new poems, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has defined her life’s work, describing with wonder both the everyday and the unaffected beauty of nature.

Herons, sparrows, owls, and kingfishers flit across the page in meditations on love, artistry, and impermanence. Whether considering a bird’s nest, the seeming patience of oak trees, or the artworks of Franz Marc, Oliver reminds us of the transformative power of attention and how much can be contained within the smallest moments.

At its heart, Blue Horses asks what it means to truly belong to this world, to live in it attuned to all its changes. Humorous, gentle, and always honest, Oliver is a visionary of the natural world.

Blue Horses is the third collection of Mary Oliver's poems that I chose to read for National Poetry Month. This volume contains 38 poems, five of which I enjoyed and plan to share at a later date on this blog. Those titles are:

Such Silence

Watering the Stones

Franz Marc's Blue Horses

The Oak Tree Loves Patience

What Gorgeous Thing

It's a joy to simply flip through this book and read one of the poems to see if it sparks inspiration or brings me a sense of peace. I have read and reread many of Oliver's poems and I'm sure others will speak to me when I read this book next year.

Felicity

 

Felicity by Mary Oliver

Poetry

2015 Penguin Books

Finished on April 14, 2021

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

“If I have any secret stash of poems, anywhere, it might be about love, not anger,” Mary Oliver once said in an interview. Finally, in her stunning new collection, Felicity, we can immerse ourselves in Oliver’s love poems. Here, great happiness abounds.

Our most delicate chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver has described her work as loving the world. With Felicity she examines what it means to love another person. She opens our eyes again to the territory within our own hearts; to the wild and to the quiet. In these poems, she describes—with joy—the strangeness and wonder of human connection.

I had forgotten that I already read Felicity a couple of years ago! I borrowed a copy from the library for National Poetry Month and wrote about it here. I now have my own copy and added it to my stack of books by Mary Oliver for this year's National Poetry Month reading. There are 38 poems in this collection and I marked five favorites. It doesn't surprise me that all but one were among my favorites in 2019. These are the titles:

Don't Worry

Storage

That Tall Distance

Not Anyone Who Says

Late Spring

Three of the poems that I noted as favorites in 2019 did not stand out this time around, which goes to show that writing, whether it's fiction, nonfiction or poetry speaks to us more powerfully depending on our current state of mind and life situations. It will be interesting to see which of these poems resonate with me in the coming years.

A Thousand Mornings

 

A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

Poetry

2012 Penguin Books

Finished on April 14, 2021

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In A Thousand Mornings, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has come to define her life’s work, transporting us to the marshland and coastline of her beloved home, Provincetown, Massachusetts. Whether studying the leaves of a tree or mourning her treasured dog Percy, Oliver is open to the teachings contained in the smallest of moments and explores with startling clarity, humor, and kindness the mysteries of our daily experience.

I rarely ever receive books for my birthday or Christmas, but this past year my husband gave me not one, but four of Mary Oliver's books! I decided to wait until National Poetry Month before starting in on this lovely collection of poetry and I began with A Thousand Mornings, which I read every morning over the course of two weeks. I love the simplicity of Oliver's words and her focus on nature and the environment, as well as on life and death. Of the 36 poems in this slim edition, I marked 8 that spoke to me. Those favorites are as follows:

I Go Down To The Shore

The Gardener

If I Were

Poem Of The One World

And Bob Dylan Too

Today

A Thousand Mornings

Tides

There are too many to quote here, but I plan to share each one individually in the coming months.

Felicity

Felicity by Mary Oliver
Poetry
2016 Penguin Press
Finished on April 16, 2019
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, celebrates love in her new collection of poems

“If I have any secret stash of poems, anywhere, it might be about love, not anger,” Mary Oliver once said in an interview. Finally, in her stunning new collection, Felicity, we can immerse ourselves in Oliver’s love poems. Here, great happiness abounds.

Our most delicate chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver has described her work as loving the world. With Felicity she examines what it means to love another person. She opens our eyes again to the territory within our own hearts; to the wild and to the quiet. In these poems, she describes—with joy—the strangeness and wonder of human connection.

As in Blue Horses, Dog Songs, and A Thousand Mornings, with Felicity Oliver honors love, life, and beauty.

Every April, I have great intentions of reading a lot of poetry for National Poetry Month, but I rarely succeed. This year, I paid a visit to my library and came home with several collections from a variety of poets: Mary Oliver, Ursula Le Guin, Billy Collins and Marge Piercy. I dipped into a few, but it wasn't until I picked up Felicity that I felt like I had found something I could honestly say I enjoyed. I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but Mary Oliver's poems speak to me with their simple and clear words. I look forward to reading more of her works in Dog Songs, Why I Wake Early and A Thousand Mornings. 

Here are a few gems that I enjoyed reading several times during the month:

Don't Worry

Things take the time they take. Don't 
worry.
How many roads did St. Augustine follow
before he became St. Augustine?


Walking to Indian River

I'm ready for spring, but it hasn't arrived.
Not yet.
Still I take my walk, looking for any
early enhancements.
It's mostly attitude. I'm certain
I'll see something.
I start down the path, peering in
all directions.
The mangroves, as always, are standing in their
beloved water,
their new leaves very small and tender
and pale.
And, look! the way the rising sun 
strikes them,
they could be flowers
opening!


Storage

When I moved from one house to another
there were many things I had no room 
for. What does one do? I rented a storage
space. And filled it. Years passed.
Occasionally I went there and looked in,
but nothing happened, not a single
twinge of the heart.
As I grew older the things I cared
about grew fewer, but were more
important. So one day I undid the lock
and called the trash man. He took
everything.
I felt like the little donkey when
his burden is finally lifted. Things!
Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful
fire! More room in your heart for love,
for the trees! For the birds who own
nothing---the reason they can fly.


Humility

Poems arrive ready to begin.
Poets are only the transportation.


That Tall Distance

That tall distance where
the clouds begin,
the forge that pounds out the lightning
and the black porch where the stars
are dressed in light
and arrangement is made for the moon's path---
it's these I think of now, after

a lifetime of goldfinches,
meandering streams,
lambs playing,
the passionate hands of the sun,
the coolness under the trees
talking leaf to leaf,
the foxes and the otters sliding on the snow,
the dolphins for whom no doubt
the seas were created,
the spray of swallows gathering in autumn---
after all of that
the tall distance is what I think of now.


That Little Beast

That pretty little beast, a poem,
has a mind of its own.
Sometimes I want it to crave apples
but it wants red meat.
Sometimes I want to walk peacefully
on the shore
and it wants to take off all its clothes 
and dive in.

Sometimes I want to use small words
and make them important
and it starts shouting the dictionary,
the opportunities.

Sometimes I want to sum up and give thanks,
putting things in order
and it starts dancing around the room
on its four furry legs, laughing
and calling me outrageous.

But sometimes, when I'm thinking about you,
and no doubt smiling,
it sits down quietly, on paw under its chin,
and just listens.


Late Spring

Finally the world is beginning
to change, its fevers mounting,
its leaves unfolding.

And the mockingbirds find
ample reason and breath to fashion
new songs. They do. You can
count on it.

As for lovers, they are discovering
new ways to love. Listen, their windows are open.
You can hear them laughing.

Without spring who knows what would happen.
A lot of nothing, I suppose.
The leaves are all in motion now
the way a young boy rows and rows

in his wooden boat, just to get anywhere.
Late, late, but now lovely and lovelier.
And the two of us, together---a part of it.


There are so many more poems that resonated with me. I believe this is a book to own and read at least once a year!

Click here to read more of my posts about poets and poetry.

Tuesday's First Chapter, First Paragraph - Skating on the Sky

Each Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea shares the first part of a book that she is reading or thinking about reading. Since April is National Poetry Month, I've decided to share a poem from Skating On the Sky (Claudia Walters Reinhardt), which I received from the author a few months ago. I'm really enjoying this collection of poems!

CARDINAL IN APRIL

Caught in the clutches of a flowering crab tree,
a cardinal flutters like a wild bandana torn from
the throat of a farmer climbing into the soundproof
cell of his tractor. The green machine rumbles
over ridges of moist soil, dripping chemicals
between earth's parted lips. Along the fence row,
the redbird sings as if just this morning
he remembered the tune
to the color of spring.

Note to local readers:

Saturday, April 9th at 2 pm
Barnes and Noble, SouthPointe Pavilions
Lincoln, Nebraska
402.421.7979

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month with us as we welcome local poet Claudia Reinhardt to our store. Claudia will be reading selections from and signing her new book Skating on the Sky from 2:00 to 3:00PM. This book will make a great addition to your collection with each poem highlighted by inspiring quotations and beautiful color photographs taken by the author. 
 
Happy Tuesday, friends! Visit Bibliophile By the Sea for more introductions.