An Occasional Whisper

Dear Mary,

It has been almost 20 years since the first time I read “The Journey.” I was in the process of getting a divorce and the poem made so much sense to me & still does.  At that time I could not read it out loud without crying, I felt it so deeply.  I have been teaching yoga & practicing healing for over 17 years.  I read this poem to my students & clients over & over again. I am now able to read it out loud with my full voice & presence, no tears - only an occasional whisper of waters coming, & that too is good.

Thank you for grounding your poetry in the natural world.

Michal Curry

Writing Models

Dear Mary, 

Your words are always present in my teaching and in my thinking.  Your poems were among my first writing models, and The Swamp Cabbage is one of the first poems I give students to read.  "What blazes the trail is not necessarily pretty" is a mantra when I avoid writing about what's unpleasant, and, when I am trying too hard, I say, "the soft animal of the body."  You have helped me love the world and be grateful.   

Many healing wishes,

Ava Leavell Haymon

Locating Myself

Dear Mary,

I read your poems whenever I feel the need to locate myself for a moment in the world around me. I thank you for the way that they restore my senses of touch and smell and sight/insight. The harshness of the world, its gentle beauty and its glorious intelligence are all there for me. Thank you. Be well.

Betsy Wing

We Can Do Some Good With Our Lives

Dear Mary,

The first poems of yours I read were in Bly's News of the Universe.  Then, in 1983, I was

in NYC for a summer seminar.  There were bookstores everywhere!  In a big store in an old

building, I found American Primitive.  I didn't have much money, so I pulled the books I

wanted out a little way from the others as I went along, then went back to choose the one

I would buy: yours.  I pulled it off the shelf and happened to look up at the same time; there

was a guy sitting atop a tall stepladder in the middle of the room, and he had a little gun

holstered on his belt.  The store detective.  He looked at me and nodded.  I've been reading,

and teaching, your poems ever since.  I invited you to read at Austin Peay State Univ. in

Tennessee in the late 80s I think it was.  You met with students and did a wonderful reading.

Both I and my students have always been given heart by your poems.  They speak to us

with such courage and sanity; they give us the confidence to know that we can do some

good with our lives.

I'm retired now.  I write a little and read a lot.  I'll pray for you each day to be well.

David Till

A Little Flock

Dear Mary,

I visited your Blackwater Pond for the first time in October 2011, and was immediately greeted by a little flock of titmice who landed on the open palm of my hand. I thought, Well, these birds surely know Mary Oliver.


And so then, what a privilege it was for me to be in their company. All good love to you.

Kim Billings

Thank you for that stillness

Dear Mary:

Your words like birds laugh
in the sky of my head.
Thank you for that stillness
that I now return to you
fom my askings.


Kurt Heyl

Tiny Iridescent Ornaments

Dear Mary,

Today I walked down my steep woodland driveway, and took my poles, and wore my hiking boots.  I am training to do the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.  I thought of you when I saw all the drops of rain on the sparse manzanita under the redwoods--- like tiny iridescent Christmas ornaments.  It is April.  They say you are getting better.  I send you a prayer and love, and the hope that you will have some fresh paper, just the right size, and a pen you like to hold.  The rain all day yesterday made the land breathe wet breaths of clean oxygen today-- gorgeous and wonderful.  I am so grateful to live in this amazing universe.
 
With love,
Martina Nicholson