Mary Oliver & Beauty to Save the World

American poet Mary Oliver (1935-2019) is known for her profound sense of wonder and soulful connection to nature. The artist’s work reflects her conviction that beauty in the natural world saved her life. What a gift that beauty filled her senses so much to overflowing that the excess fills ours. Thank you, Mary, as you linger wherever your life after life has brought you. And thank you, reader, for landing here to be soothed you right where you are.

Mary Oliver Poetry & Nature’s Healing

Mary Oliver was born on September 10, 1935, in the semi-rural Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, Ohio. Her home was not a happy one, and she often remarked it was one of the reasons she loathed “buildings.”

Drawn outside with excessive discord indoors, she sought solace and inspiration from nature.

She began writing poetry as a child and never lost passion for it. Although she did not complete a degree, Oliver attended Ohio State University and Vassar College.

Mary Oliver Poetry Collections

Her poetry is beloved for its simplicity, clarity, and wonder for the natural world. Descriptions of lovely landscapes, intricacies of wildlife, and spiritual enlightenment spring from simple observances and attunement with nature.

A few of Mary Oliver’s notable collections include American Primitive (1983), New and Selected Poems (1992), House of Light (1990), A Thousand Mornings (2012), and Devotions (2017), a compilation of her most beloved poems.

American Primitive won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984.

You can’t miss her exploration of solitude, love, longing, awe, mortality, and spirituality throughout the work.

Nature Poetry & Wisdom from an American Poet

Mary Oliver poems are invitations to look closer, to stop rushing, to grow quiet, and to notice beauty in the world all around us.

We’re encouraged to become meaning makers who discover joy within the ordinary. Simple and overlooked moments in everyday life become sacred and elevated by the earnest soulfulness of her expressions.

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Mary Oliver is the recipient of many awards and honors including a National Book Award and Lannan Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The Poet’s Ultra-Private Life

This poet’s private life indeed remained private!

Mary Oliver lived a relatively quiet and introverted life, remaining in Provincetown on Cape Cod, Massachusetts for 40 years.

It was here she found inspiration for her poems which may aid others to fight gloom, become less self-centered, live fully yet lightly, and inflict less harm.

Her rapt attention to natural landscapes allowed her to see through what modern culture cleverly conceals.

It now seems remarkable that the poet created so much beloved poetry without entering public discourse about politics, religion, or social issues.

A Poet Living Privately

Somehow, in 21st century America, the poet sheltered herself in privacy away from computers, away from opportunities to be “cancelled.”

Mary Oliver passed away at the age of 83 on January 17, 2019. Not long before she died, I remember listening to an interview with Krista Tipett.

Paradox & Her Poetry

One could sense her unease discsussing her life and work through the entire interview. This made her willingness to vulnerably just show up all the more meaningful to me.

She revealed surprising anecdotes, biases, and secrets behind some of her best known work. As I listened, I was struck by the breadth of work encouraging us to live wildly despite being a writer who stuck to a narrow, quiet, path of attentiveness to her immediate surroundings.

It seemed at first to ring as paradox. However, as I began to consider the “wildness” of resisting capitalism, colonization, patriarchy, mainstream religion and ideas of what constitutes American prosperity…

the invitation to be wild began to resemble something other than paradox. Self-exploration and self-reflection within her work advise us to look up to the skies, look down at the dirt, and notice the behavior of geese. How radically different than gazing at screens, meditating on checking account balances, and electronically tracking everything from our steps to our minutes of sleep.

Drawn to wild landscapes nearby, she practiced looking away.

Personal Reflections

Her poetry has always resonated; its themes never stray far.

As she shapes words about grief, I have a physical reaction and profound sense of deep connectedness.

Hope never came naturally to Mary Oliver, and I am sorry to admit it does not flow easily for me. What a joy to be joined since I require grace and help from others to claim and reclaim it.

The Companionship of Poetry on a Faith Journey

Perhaps it is this earnestness to recover hope and build faith by seeking it freshly nearby (and not far corners removed from daily rituals) that charms me most.

What I discovered only recently is how freeing it feels to admit when my hope is quite low and to examine this without shame. It is a temporary state, a message from my soul, a phase to hold with gentleness, not scorn.

It’s where I find myself just now. While I have been here before, I have not had access to the tools and insight I now have. These blessings have arrived because of: grace, years to live and grow, and a God with whom all things are possible. My response to a low supply of hope in the past was to shrink in fear. Now I am compelled to expand in faith and also seek vision for that which I cannot see. What a gift nature brings with its access to clouds, sky, moon, and dirt. These gifts are celebrated by Oliver and preserved for our good so that her absence in death cannot prevent their power to heal.

Peace to you right where you are.

-michele

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