Thirst: Poems by Mary Oliver
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Book Reviews of Thirst: Poems
Book Review: How Grief Edges Joy
Summary: 5 Stars
Live long enough, live deep enough, and you will find, as Mary Oliver does in these 43 poems collected in "Thirst," that all grief edges joy, all joy is edged by grief. It is only in a deep and courageous immersion into life, and perhaps also that place beyond life, that one can fully experience this wonder, a kind of yin and yang, the light beside the shadow, phenomenon that is living with thirst, quenched or unquenched.
There is nothing pretentious about Oliver's poetry. She is simplicity and purity itself. Thirst is how she approaches living, and now dying - in her expression of grief for the loss of her longtime life partner. This does not change how she approaches living, only intensifies it. "My work is loving the world," she writes in her opening poem, "Messenger." She observes the world, then observes herself in it, part and parcel. "Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums./Here the clam deep in the speckled sand./Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?/Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me/keep my mind on what matters,/which is my work,/which is mostly standing still and learning to be/astonished."
Much of this collection is Oliver's conversation with God having a conversation with her. Their dialogue is filtered by nature, where everyplace is a place of worship and every living thing ministering to her and she reciprocating. Her dogs speak of unconditional love and simple acceptance, an exchanged gaze with a snake is looking into the eyes of divinity (and not the darker side). Praying can be done through the weeds in a vacant lot. The words do not have to be elaborate, Oliver writes, "but a doorway/into thanks, and a silence in which/another voice may speak." This same sentiment is echoed with utmost simplicity in the poem, "The Uses of Sorrow" - that a box full of darkness given to her by another can also be a gift, a richer blessing.
When you think you cannot go closer, or dive deeper, or come up into brighter light, as Oliver writes in her poetry - you can. Just when you think Oliver cannot elicit more beauty out of the everyday word - she does. We thirst for more.
Book Review: If only
Summary: 5 Stars
Other reviewers have spoken well of Mary Oliver's grief at the death of her partner and her search for God. I want to mention a poem that spoke to me and said "If only.". If only our leaders would read this poem, be touched by it to move in other directions.
Mozart,for Example
All the quick notes
Mozart didn't have time to use
before he entered the cloud-boat
are falling now from the beaks
of the finches
that have gathered from the joyous summer
into the hard winter
and, like Mozart, they speak of nothing
but light and delight,
though it is true, the heavy blades of the world
are still pounding underneath.
And this is what you can do too, maybe,
if you live simply and with a lyrical heart
in the cumbered neighborhoods or even,
as Mozart sometimes managed to, in a palace,
offering tune after tune after tune,
making some hard-hearted prince
prudent and kind, just by being happy.
Book Review: Inspiring
Summary: 5 Stars
* Thirst, Mary Oliver. The tone of this beautiful collection of poems is set in the first line of the first poem, entitled Messenger: "My work is loving the world." It is obvious in this collection and in the larger body of her work throughout her life that her work is loving the world deeply. And it is in this same spirit that, after the death in 2005 of her beloved longtime partner Molly Malone Cook, has led her back to the church she disengaged from many years ago. Her journey has always been a spiritual one. In her poems about Jesus, God, faith and sacraments it is clear that for her, rdeengaging with the church is part of loving the world. A line in her poem "A Beautiful Striped Sparrow" says it best: "as they promised,/ God, once he in your heart,/ is everywhere--"
Though her path is different from mine, and though it may be off-putting to some, I deeply appreciate and respect each of these poems. I look forward to seeing more from her as she continues her work of loving the world.
Book Review: This book will quench your thirst!
Summary: 5 Stars
I find poetry very enjoyable and therapeutic. This Pulitzer Prize winning poet who writes about the natural world is my cup of tea. She may be yours as well. Let me just tantalize you with a few lines from a poem called "The Summer Day" to give you a taste of what her poetry is like.
I do know how to pay attention,
how to fall down
into the grass,
how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed,
how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?"
Book Review: Thank You
Summary: 5 Stars
The first line of the first poem is, "My work is loving the world." There is no doubt that Mary Oliver's signature strength is just that - her gratitude for and astonishment of this world. To be alive is a wonderful thing and the poet makes us appreciate that. Her poetry is down to earth and spiritual, and has the capacity to wake us up. She writes a couple of lines that I think about daily. They are:
...and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
There are 43 new Mary Oliver poems to be thankful for.