Little black canine – my loving shadow
O Growler of Other Dogs and
One of Insatiable Appetite
Your spirit is ceaselessly bold
yet your haunches have caused affright
Tag: poetry
Mary Oliver*
Wild Geese
Oliver, who cited Walt Whitman as an influence, is best known for her awe-filled, often hopeful, reflections on and observations of nature. “Mary Oliver’s poetry is an excellent antidote for the excesses of civilization,” wrote one reviewer for the Harvard Review, “for too much flurry and inattention, and the baroque conventions of our social and professional lives. She is a poet of wisdom and generosity whose vision allows us to look intimately at a world not of our making.”
Her honors include an American Academy of Arts & Letters Award, a Lannan Literary Award, the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Prize and Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Oliver held the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching at Bennington College until 2001. She lived for over forty years in Provincetown, Massachusetts, with her partner Molly Malone Cook, a photographer and gallery owner. After Cook’s death in 2005, Oliver later moved to the southeastern coast of Florida. Oliver died of cancer at the age of eighty-three in Hobe Sound, Florida, on January 17, 2019.
*This contents of this post come from Poets.org
Mary Oliver reminds me to look to nature whenever I feel humans are letting the world down. Rejoice in the strength of the trees and the persistent bloom of flowers.
-CCW
Inspired by Costco
There once was a lady named Mame
who had a love for candy cane
Then – post-Christmas discounts
Menthol strain caused her to flounce
And that was the end of Lady Mame
A Cause for Celebration
I just turned 50 and everyone is asking me how it feels
“amazing, wonderful and miraculous!”
At 27, I got in a horrible car accident (I was on a scooter)
Had I entered the intersection seconds sooner, I would have died
At 34, I gave birth and almost died from blood clotting
I had breast cancer 8 years ago
now I’m cancer-free with a beautiful family and a job I love
My new (and just fired) financial advisor said,
“I won’t say your age out loud”
as if growing older is shameful
as if getting older is bad
Last night, a friend of mine told me
she has a friend who has three months to live (cancer spread)
that woman is a mother and in her thirties
to her, turning 50 would be a miracle
Turning 40…50…60…(70…and on) is a miracle
It should be embraced (!)
Fearing aging is fearing life
Our culture is kind of sick in that way
The good news is,
we don’t have to buy into it
Traveling Poem
Hotel housekeeping
anthropology small scale
Leaving clues behind
One Who Knows
She is a porous entity
absorbing her surroundings entirely
and, reaching maximum capacity,
she overflows
About this poem: Once in awhile, my oldest daughter will reveal her thoughts out of the blue and surprise us with her insight. Judging by her actions, she appears to be the stereotypical self-centered teenager – concerned about social engagements and image. However, the other day, she expressed concern that her sister’s friend does not engage or commit as fully as her sister does. Plagued by thoughts and concerns because she is so sensitive and observant, she will reach maximum capacity and have a panic attack.
Interval
I sit with a few girls during lunch recess
we all like to doodle
Tomorrow (September 22) is the first day of autumn (!)
But it’s Arizona – 96 degrees and humid from a recent storm
Laura’s drawing pretty ladies shopping
Julia is sketching fashion (dresses, skirts, shirts)
and I draw ferns, acorns and other accoutrements of Nature
kids are shouting and running around us – we remain composed
