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Resurrecting Mary Oliver

May 13, 2008

susan_preston_resurrect.jpg

A Wave in an Ocean of Light ~ Canon 30d

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.


Forgive me, I must break into the midst of this amazing poem to confess something rather embarrassing. Someone at some point in the last year told me Mary Oliver was dead. She'd done a web search and found a eulogy of some sort, and of course, since the web tells no lies, it had to be true, right? My heart sank upon hearing this Alternative Universe Wickedness. It felt as though a light had gone out up in Provincetown, Massachusetts, but at least her words would be a lamp for many generations of readers, pointing toward the beauty surrounding us all at any given moment.

But... just last week, something happened that killed me with delight! A new client whose work is located in both Provincetown and DC assured me Ms. Oliver is very much undeceased!

"Are you absolutely SURE she isn't dead?" my tone was hopeful, but I didn't want to have my spirits lifted only to have them dashed on the shores of Cape Cod again. As if an artist from her home town wouldn't know... Susan!

"Well, I just saw her give a poetry reading a week ago, and she was very much alive."

A needle in a haystack of delight (!) there was no time within me for feelings of emabarassment – Mary Oliver was alive! Why, she's probably writing a new poem RIGHT NOW! The clouds parted and a light bulb sparked awake over my head. It was as though the Pulitzer Prize winner had been miraculously resurrected just for me, right there in the middle of an office in Washington, DC. (Gentle reader, if you've not figured out there's a reason for my aka title ~ Her Royal Highness, Queen Susie Q of Whimsy ~ it should be glaringly apparent by now. There are emergency exits at the top of your browser if you think you can't take much more of this.)

Isn't it amazing how one wrong thought, when turned right side up, has the power to change one's countenance? Seems to me there's a lesson hiding inside my quirky and gullible experience: don't believe everything you hear, and certainly do not believe everything you're thinking at any given moment either. The human mind, with all it's vulnerabilities, is so susceptible to illusions and confusions. If making myself the butt of my own joke might serve to illustrate the importance of not thinking you know it all, all of the time, then please, laugh away at me... the Queen of Whimsy most certainly can take it!

Now, please do forgive me for so rudely interrupting Mary Oliver's poem. In the event anyone else out there was under a falsified internet spell, I thought it was better to let you know sooner than later.


It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mindful, by Mary Oliver, (Why I Wake Early... unposthumously)


Image shot from the ferry returning from Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Posted by vincent at May 13, 2008 07:48 PM

Comments

I think she has a new book out, too!

(Found your blog via Beyond the Fields)

Posted by: Dave at May 13, 2008 10:10 PM

Well, Susan... I have read and seen poetry by her on many blogs, and I too thought she was long gone for some reason? Whew. Well. I am sure Ms Oliver is pleased to know she's still alive and kicking.

Posted by: jayne at May 14, 2008 06:47 AM

She's alive and well, and even taking road trips.

Follow our blog. We'll keep you informed of Mary's activities.

Posted by: Jessica Bennett at May 14, 2008 01:25 PM

Sweet.

Posted by: Bob at May 14, 2008 07:04 PM

Mary's longtime partner died last year...maybe that's what you heard?

Posted by: bobbi at May 18, 2008 08:24 PM

What happy news. What a marvelous poem. And the photo!.....black water and blue sky and orange sun. Wow.

Posted by: janet at May 19, 2008 09:56 PM