Before a Trip

Dear Mary,

Once, about to go on a ten day trip through the Olympic Peninsula wilderness, alone and a little scared and sad, I was given a book of your poems.

      

 BEFORE A TRIP

         What a gift, to find

         Mary Oliver this morning

         Sitting in the living room

  

        You know what you can

         Do this week, she said,

         You can read my poems to

        The trees, the ocean,

        The mountains.

         It would mean so much to me.

         I would thank you, and hopefully,

         So would the greens and blues,

         The basalt and bark.

    

        

That evening I head out for my first reading.   I set out some rules:

   1. Always read aloud.

   2.  Always stand up.

   3.  Do not stop if someone walks by.

   4.  Continue to the end of the poem. 

   5.  Believe that other life forms are listening.

   6.  Speak in a normal voice; don’t whisper.

   7.  Listen for the response.

For ten days this was my practice and joy. Everything from funny encounters to miracles ensued. I recommend this to the solitary traveler.

Thank you.

Kathleen Culver