Mary Oliver is one of America’s recent poets whose works are memorized by youth and adults alike. See below a YouTube interview with Mary on OnBeing.org with Krista Tippett.
Mary Oliver was one of our greatest and most beloved poets. She is often quoted by people across ages and backgrounds — and it’s fitting, since she described poetry as a sacred community ritual. “When you write a poem, you write it for anybody and everybody,” she said. Mary died on January 17, 2019, at the age of 83. She was a prolific and decorated poet whose honors included the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In this 2015 conversation — one of the rare interviews she granted during her lifetime — she discussed the wisdom of the world, the salvation of poetry, and the life behind her writing. (Original Air Date: February 5, 2015)
Krista Tippett
Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge – Photo by Susan Feathers
Not this year, until now, did I turn to Mary Oliver’s poetry. I don’t know why except perhaps the numbing worry about erratic leadership, a pandemic, and climate change right here right now, and isolation.
In “Beside a Waterfall” Oliver draws our attention to the beingness in all the living world, our deepest connection with each other, the exchanges that give us life and purpose.
Susan Feathers 