The origin of this newsletter’s title comes from a place of intellectual curiosity and exchange, taking inspiration from the original Republic of Letters. Generosity and openness are keys to intellectual and artistic exchange, I believe. So in the spirit of openness, I will make a terrible confession.
Before I came to Substack, I hadn’t read a single line by Mary Oliver.
Yes, she's been a big favourite of mine for a long time. I very often read her work to participants in my poetry workshops. Yes, as someone else says, she's quite well-known outside poetry circles, in the way that, say, Rumi is.
I love her New and Selected; I would agree with Lev who says In Blackwater Woods is a great poem; another is Dogfish.
I love that her work is so rooted in the natural world but spans other dimensions too.
I suspect that some potential readers think that she is or would be too 'New Age'; she is emotionally engaged, and some people who like more detached academic work might not enjoy hers. Personally, I think she's done us all a big favour by being and writing as she is (was) and has.
Thank you, Roselle. That's a great overview of her and really helps me to place her. I really like your phrase about doing us a favour by being and writing as she was. That sounds like a mark of quality to me.
Yes. And with the New Age bit I was also trying to explain why she is not always as well-known as she deserves to be: some people make assumptions and pass her by, maybe after reading a few lines.
Thank you for writing about Mary. "I actually thought she might be a self-help/mindfulness guru who’d used poems to get her message across"—agh, this hurt to read! But I know where it comes from. A few of her poems have become popular in mindfulness and yoga type circles, and a lot of people have not bothered to learn much about her beyond that, but her topics are so much broader and deeper. She herself was a chain-smoking, wind-weathered, very private, gnarled little tree of a woman who devoted her life to her partner Molly and was close friends with John Waters. A queer poet who was very rarely identified as such. She survived terrible childhood abuse, which she also wrote about. She was my writing mentor in college and one of the best, most bullshit-free people I have ever known. I hope you'll look at her earlier work especially. Thanks for writing about her 💜
Thank you for your rich and heartfelt comment, Summer. It gives me a rich insight into her work. And what a person to have as a mentor!
I've been learning so much from different people's perspectives, and I hope they have been useful for others, too. Although, for reasons of space and frequent moves, I rarely buy physical books any more, I am making an exception for Mary Oliver and am now waiting for my copy of Dream Work to reach me here in Tokyo. Thank you again.
Oh absolutely. She'd already won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize before I met her. A few of her poems ended up experiencing a kind of viral fame which I think made some people dismiss her.
Oh, Mary! I love her so. One, because she had such a reverent and engaged relationship with the natural world. Two, because (though she rarely ever discussed it explicitly) she came from a lot of trauma and really used poetry and nature as ways to reclaim her life. I always feel, when I read her, as if she is working with great dedication to be here and to be grateful to be here, which is no small feat for some of us. If you're going to start with a collection, I would argue for one of her first two-- either American Primitive or Dream Work. I also really love listening to her talk about poetry and life. Krista Tippet's extended interview with her on the On Being podcast is one of my all-time favorite interviews. I highly recommend it:
Yes! I was just saying that I don't recall how I first came across Mary Oliver, but this is it! It was this episode of On Being! Thank you for reminding me!
I was intrigued by your post and then heard about Mary Oliver on the BBC Sounds podcast 'Great Lives' (with guests Niamh Cusack and Baroness Helena Kennedy!). She sounds fascinating and I will read more of her poetry. Like you, I did not know her work before.
Hello Alison - I was also going to mention this episode of Great Lives. It was acknowledged that she is much less well known in the UK, Jeff, if that makes you feel better!
Thanks, Jan. Yes, the comments have been so rich and generous. And thank you for sharing those lovely lines from Wendell Berry. Another poet to follow up on!
I find there is a wonderful and mysterious serendipitous element in life. It happens. Unfolds. Why is too complicated and never answered. The reward is considering the knowable, the when, what, how, and where of it all. That is where the fascinating interconnection of all is found. Exploring the observables of these knowables until one sees the pattern. Perhaps the deep cognitive schemas, unconsciously guiding us all.
I love her writing. I keep her books on my shelf and reread regularly. There's a brilliant biography by Paula Byrne. So many of those early/mid century female novelists are forgotten/ignored. I'm always seeking out new ones.
I’ve just looked up my English literature poetry book from many years ago, to remind myself which poets were included: Ten Twentieth Century Poets / Wollman. This was the limit of my poetry education. All men 😀
Ah. Not a surprise, but sad nonetheless. I read some poems by Sylvia Plath and Elizabeth Jennings at school. It was an excellent anthology, with maybe 40 poets included, but, from memory, all the rest were men.
My favorite contemporary poets are John Ashbery, Linda Pastan, WS Merwin, James Tate, Diane Wakoski. Older poets: Hart Crane and Eliot. Much older: Rimbaud, Verlaine, Byron.
That sounds like fun. I've hosted poets, but never been hosted by one. I was once in charge of a busload of poets getting drunk on mezcal. This was in Mexico and is a story for another day.
I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of poetry, but I do know Mary Oliver. Sorry if that makes you feel bad. I am American, if that helps. I don't have a book to recommend, but my favorite poem is "The Journey".
My biggest literary surprise on Substack was finding "In Flanders Fields" translated into resonant Latin by Armand D'Angour. As for Mary Oliver, your trailhead is NEW AND SELECTED POEMS. "When Death Comes" gave me the title of my newsletter, amazement Seeker: "...I was a bride married to amazement/ I was the bridegroom taking the world into my arms." (I am neither but it's heartening to aim high.) In DOG SONGS, you'll find a consoling poem to share with anyone who's lost a dog. It's called "The First Time Percy Came Back."
Thank you, Rona! And wow; I haven't come across any Latin on here yet. And thank you for the suggestion of that collection of Oliver's poems. I'm already looking forward to settling down to read her poetry on a winter's afternoon here in Tokyo, as the light fades.
Possibly one of the 77 other comments has mentioned this one, but I recommend Mary Oliver’s Rules For The Dance. It’s simply the best book on poetry I’ve ever read.
I'm with you. I live in Scotland and had never come across Mary Oliver either, despite being pretty well read in C20th century poetry. I dropped hints before Xmas about a collected works but my long-suffering partner was unable to find one so I'm still only reading her online. My cynical side says because her poetry looks so simple and "homely", and she happens to be a woman to boot, that she may have gone under the radar. Only true genius makes complexity look simple though.
Thank you, Gill! I really like your point about genius making complexity simple.
I don't know if there is a Collected. There's a New and Selected , though. However, I'm going to start with Dream Work and then move to American Primitive.
Yes, she's been a big favourite of mine for a long time. I very often read her work to participants in my poetry workshops. Yes, as someone else says, she's quite well-known outside poetry circles, in the way that, say, Rumi is.
I love her New and Selected; I would agree with Lev who says In Blackwater Woods is a great poem; another is Dogfish.
I love that her work is so rooted in the natural world but spans other dimensions too.
I suspect that some potential readers think that she is or would be too 'New Age'; she is emotionally engaged, and some people who like more detached academic work might not enjoy hers. Personally, I think she's done us all a big favour by being and writing as she is (was) and has.
Thank you, Roselle. That's a great overview of her and really helps me to place her. I really like your phrase about doing us a favour by being and writing as she was. That sounds like a mark of quality to me.
Yes. And with the New Age bit I was also trying to explain why she is not always as well-known as she deserves to be: some people make assumptions and pass her by, maybe after reading a few lines.
Thank you for writing about Mary. "I actually thought she might be a self-help/mindfulness guru who’d used poems to get her message across"—agh, this hurt to read! But I know where it comes from. A few of her poems have become popular in mindfulness and yoga type circles, and a lot of people have not bothered to learn much about her beyond that, but her topics are so much broader and deeper. She herself was a chain-smoking, wind-weathered, very private, gnarled little tree of a woman who devoted her life to her partner Molly and was close friends with John Waters. A queer poet who was very rarely identified as such. She survived terrible childhood abuse, which she also wrote about. She was my writing mentor in college and one of the best, most bullshit-free people I have ever known. I hope you'll look at her earlier work especially. Thanks for writing about her 💜
Thank you for your rich and heartfelt comment, Summer. It gives me a rich insight into her work. And what a person to have as a mentor!
I've been learning so much from different people's perspectives, and I hope they have been useful for others, too. Although, for reasons of space and frequent moves, I rarely buy physical books any more, I am making an exception for Mary Oliver and am now waiting for my copy of Dream Work to reach me here in Tokyo. Thank you again.
Dream Work is a good one. I'd also recommend American Primitive. xo
Thank you! That's now definitely on the list!
Wow, that is a wonderful remembrance. You were a lucky one.
Mary Oliver has long been recognized, ias one of the greatest poets of her generation. She was, in fact, renowned and admired during her lifetime.
Oh absolutely. She'd already won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize before I met her. A few of her poems ended up experiencing a kind of viral fame which I think made some people dismiss her.
Oh, Mary! I love her so. One, because she had such a reverent and engaged relationship with the natural world. Two, because (though she rarely ever discussed it explicitly) she came from a lot of trauma and really used poetry and nature as ways to reclaim her life. I always feel, when I read her, as if she is working with great dedication to be here and to be grateful to be here, which is no small feat for some of us. If you're going to start with a collection, I would argue for one of her first two-- either American Primitive or Dream Work. I also really love listening to her talk about poetry and life. Krista Tippet's extended interview with her on the On Being podcast is one of my all-time favorite interviews. I highly recommend it:
https://onbeing.org/programs/mary-oliver-i-got-saved-by-the-beauty-of-the-world/
Thank you, Asha, for your wonderfully expressed comment about her and why she's so special. And thank you for those recommendations, much appreciated.
Yes! I was just saying that I don't recall how I first came across Mary Oliver, but this is it! It was this episode of On Being! Thank you for reminding me!
Thanks, Marina. I certainly aim to report back on what I make of her work!
I haven't read a lot of Bukowski's work - have you? Maybe, as you say, he's gone out of fashion. Others can perhaps enlighten us on that.
I was intrigued by your post and then heard about Mary Oliver on the BBC Sounds podcast 'Great Lives' (with guests Niamh Cusack and Baroness Helena Kennedy!). She sounds fascinating and I will read more of her poetry. Like you, I did not know her work before.
Thanks, Alison. That's an interesting coincidence. Let's compare notes when we've both read her!
Hello Alison - I was also going to mention this episode of Great Lives. It was acknowledged that she is much less well known in the UK, Jeff, if that makes you feel better!
Such great comments! I love Mary Oliver... And of course Wendell Berry :
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Thanks, Jan. Yes, the comments have been so rich and generous. And thank you for sharing those lovely lines from Wendell Berry. Another poet to follow up on!
I find there is a wonderful and mysterious serendipitous element in life. It happens. Unfolds. Why is too complicated and never answered. The reward is considering the knowable, the when, what, how, and where of it all. That is where the fascinating interconnection of all is found. Exploring the observables of these knowables until one sees the pattern. Perhaps the deep cognitive schemas, unconsciously guiding us all.
Thanks, Rick. I agree that sometimes it's best not to seek to understand everything but just enjoy the mystery of things.
“Dog Songs” will improve your life. Period.
Thank you for the recommendation!
I'm afraid I don't know Mary Oliver either, so she's a discovery waiting to happen for me.
When I discovered Barbara Pym I couldn't believe I hadn't read her before, and I couldn't believe that hardly anyone I knew, knew her work.
Thanks June. Barbara Pym was a fine writer, wasn't she? I reread Quartet in Autumn a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.
I love her writing. I keep her books on my shelf and reread regularly. There's a brilliant biography by Paula Byrne. So many of those early/mid century female novelists are forgotten/ignored. I'm always seeking out new ones.
I can always rely on your writing to send me down a new rabbit hole. I’ve just looked her up!. I think I’ll be down this rabbit hole quite often 😊
🙂 Thanks, Nicola! That's a nice way of putting it. Happy scampering down that rabbit hole!
I’ve just looked up my English literature poetry book from many years ago, to remind myself which poets were included: Ten Twentieth Century Poets / Wollman. This was the limit of my poetry education. All men 😀
Ah. Not a surprise, but sad nonetheless. I read some poems by Sylvia Plath and Elizabeth Jennings at school. It was an excellent anthology, with maybe 40 poets included, but, from memory, all the rest were men.
Tony Hoagland is a favorite i found him by his offering, The Word.
Thanks - I have just read The Word, a fine poem. Much appreciated.
Someone recently intro'd me to her amazing poem In Blackwater Woods:
http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_inblackwaterwoods.html
My favorite contemporary poets are John Ashbery, Linda Pastan, WS Merwin, James Tate, Diane Wakoski. Older poets: Hart Crane and Eliot. Much older: Rimbaud, Verlaine, Byron.
Thank you, Lev. That's a gorgeous poem!
And thanks for the other names. I don't know Wakoski or Pastan, so will check them out. There's always room for more poetry in my life.
Wakoski was poet-in-residence at MSU and gave amazing dinner parties.
That sounds like fun. I've hosted poets, but never been hosted by one. I was once in charge of a busload of poets getting drunk on mezcal. This was in Mexico and is a story for another day.
She was a gourmet chef and had calligraphy'd menu cards at each place setting
I'm warming to her already
Her first big hit was The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems.
I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of poetry, but I do know Mary Oliver. Sorry if that makes you feel bad. I am American, if that helps. I don't have a book to recommend, but my favorite poem is "The Journey".
Thank you Brenda! I'll be sure to check that one out.
What's interesting is that Oliver seems to be known outside the regular cicles of poetry readers, which is pretty rare.
My biggest literary surprise on Substack was finding "In Flanders Fields" translated into resonant Latin by Armand D'Angour. As for Mary Oliver, your trailhead is NEW AND SELECTED POEMS. "When Death Comes" gave me the title of my newsletter, amazement Seeker: "...I was a bride married to amazement/ I was the bridegroom taking the world into my arms." (I am neither but it's heartening to aim high.) In DOG SONGS, you'll find a consoling poem to share with anyone who's lost a dog. It's called "The First Time Percy Came Back."
Thank you, Rona! And wow; I haven't come across any Latin on here yet. And thank you for the suggestion of that collection of Oliver's poems. I'm already looking forward to settling down to read her poetry on a winter's afternoon here in Tokyo, as the light fades.
Oh, Percy!
Gosh, I love that poem.🌱🌿💚
Possibly one of the 77 other comments has mentioned this one, but I recommend Mary Oliver’s Rules For The Dance. It’s simply the best book on poetry I’ve ever read.
Thanks for the comment and for the recommendation. I'll certainly check that out.
I'm with you. I live in Scotland and had never come across Mary Oliver either, despite being pretty well read in C20th century poetry. I dropped hints before Xmas about a collected works but my long-suffering partner was unable to find one so I'm still only reading her online. My cynical side says because her poetry looks so simple and "homely", and she happens to be a woman to boot, that she may have gone under the radar. Only true genius makes complexity look simple though.
Thank you, Gill! I really like your point about genius making complexity simple.
I don't know if there is a Collected. There's a New and Selected , though. However, I'm going to start with Dream Work and then move to American Primitive.