Mary Oliver

"Throughout her ... career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her ... verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things ... She now returns with a ... definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years"--

The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

Devotions

sage lynn

So come to the pond, / or the river of your imagination, / or the harbor of your longing, / and put your lips to the world. / And live

Said the river: imagine everything you can imagine, then / keep on going. / Imagine how the lily (who may also be a part of God) / would sing to you if it could sing, if / you would pause to hear it. / And how are you so certain anyway that it doesn’t sing?

from “to begin with, the sweet grass”

And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know? / Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.

It’s more than bones. / It’s more than the delicate wrist with its personal pulse. / It’s more than the beating of the single heart. / It’s praising. / It’s giving until the giving feels like receiving. / You have a life—just imagine that! / You have this day, and maybe another, and maybe / still another.

And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything? / And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for? / And have you changed your life?

So I just lie like that, while distance and time / reveal their true attitudes: they never / heard of me, and never will, or ever need to.

Maybe our world will grow kinder eventually. / Maybe the desire to make something beautiful / is the piece of God that is inside each of us.

vera ౨ৎ

keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.

it's wonderful to walk along like that, thought not the usual intention to reach an answer, but merely drifting.

from "i don't want to be demure or respectable"

why do i have so many thoughts, they are driving me crazy.

why am i always going anywhere, instead of somewhere?

𓂃 𓈒𓏸

“We shake with joy, we shake with grief. What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body.”

deniz

Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful fire! More room in your heart for love, for the trees! For the birds who own nothing—the reason they can fly.

You wouldn’t believe what once or twice I have seen. I’ll just tell you this:

only if there are angels in your head will you ever, possibly, see one.

juliane

If there is life after the earth-life, will you come with me? Even then? Since we’re bound to be something, why not together. 

now that i’m free to be myself, who am i? 

that the mind can seize both the instant and the memory!

and thus the world is full of leaves and feathers, and comfort, and instruction 

bella

“and to tell the truth, I don’t want to let go of the wrists of idleness, I don’t want to sell my life for money, I don’t even want to come in out of the rain.”

Sadie Hoffman

there was a new voice,/which you slowly/recognized as your own,/that kept you company/as you stride deeper and deeper/into the world,

determined to do/the only thing you could do—/determined to save/the only life you could save.

whatever/the name of the catastrophe, it is never/ the opposite of love.

A person wants to stand in a happy place, in a poem.

my life is/with its poems/and its music/and its glass cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness/coming/down the mountain,/breathing and tasting;

Cole Stoots

But I thought, of the wren’s singing, what could this be if it isn’t a prayer?

asha

A New York Times Bestseller! Chosen as one of Oprah's "Books That Help Me Through" for Oprah's Book Club! Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career. Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years. Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world.

Maria

"listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?"

"Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years. Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015"--

britt

mary oliver truly is my favorite and in my opinion, the greatest poet. her poems touch me so deeply. they resonant completely and entirely. they are the whole world, including me. they hold all the primal joy and grief and heartache that is present in everything.

andrea valentina 

Erin Darlyn

Mary Oliver is my favorite poet and this collection of poems from her different works is a delight that I will revisit again and again. 

I would like to share one of the dog-eared poems in my copy (that I dog-eared poems in this book at all says something, because I am one of those peculiar sorts who like to keep books in pristine condition). It is titled, "Invitation."

"Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude - 
believe us, they say, it is a serious thing

just to be alive 
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life."

that one tumblr post saying it’s physically impossible to read mary oliver without immediately having to hold back tears .. Felt to my core

i cried so much !! it was all so beautiful and moving, made me feel so one with and in awe of the world. my friend told me his family used to read a mary oliver poem before dinner every night & i think that’s so lovely 

petrina

Finally finished reading this after months of not wanting it to end. I have so many thoughts and so much to process but i think this will be one of my favorite things i’ve ever read forever. The way Mary Oliver approaches everything with kindness and love makes me want to wake up each day and try to do at least a little bit of the same. Reading this has genuinely changed my life and changed the way i think about so many things😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 .

Hannah Lee

mary oliver’s poems always feel like warm hugs. my favourite cottagecore poet

whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

jennifer 

the beginning of devotion is attention ☹️ love stuff that reminds me things are just how you choose to see them

her words are the biggest, warmest hug. I love her writing. I hope to find the peace that she found.

i want to live inside mary oliver's poems. her words are just so comforting

giuli

Lyric Hooey

Had to read most poems twice because I wanted to fully understand what Mary Oliver was saying. Beautiful poetry that comes from a place of faith, love, grief, and joy. Will likely read again.

cry count because of the poems: 3+ times. i spent the whole year with this book & i'm glad i did. will probably return later for a more extended review but oh my god. i needed everything in it, so, so badly.

madina

Fleur van Ravesteijn 

3,5 stars from me. A must-read for poetry lovers who have a any sort of spiritual, borderline-religious relationship with nature.

Gisela Ayala 

Beautiful and inspiring in all its quietness. I took my time reading this, slowly and a little bit each morning (how I usually do when getting through poetry) in order to reflect on what I just read. 

The language is beautiful and peaceful - Mary Oliver's words transported me to lakes and streams, and early morning walks, all while sitting in the comfort of my room with a cup of coffee. Scattered throughout the book are bits of paper and bookmarks, that mark the words and soft advice that nature gives. It just reminds me that you don't have to be loud to revolutionary. Even a quiet soul can save the world - even if the only world you are saving is your own. 

I leave you with this: 

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

I will be revisiting this poems for a very long time.

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?”
Devotions is a master collection of Mary Oliver’s poetry, collecting bits and pieces from other collections of her work over the course of her career, spanning from 1963 to 2015. This collection brought to mind the very little Wendell Berry and Marilynne Robinson I’ve read in her reverence for nature. This reverence of the natural world is what bound all of these poems into a more cohesive unit.

Some of this, the more structured areas of the collection, I liked very much. Others, the more free flowing, stream-of-consciousness selections, didn’t resonate with me at all. For poems so firmly rooted in the physical realm, they tended to feel very ephemeral, which is a writing choice I always have difficulty connecting with. However, there were certain lines that resonated so strongly. While I might not have fallen in love with her style, I can easily see why it speaks so deeply to others.

I went into this collection hoping that I was going to find a new favorite poet in Oliver. I’ve heard such wonderful things about her work, and she has influenced so many artists whose own work I already love dearly. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t quite connect with her style and voice, even if I found her subject matter beautiful. I find myself greatly respecting her, but I don’t see her as someone whose work I’ll be dipping back into with any frequency. That being said, age changes taste, so perhaps I’ll revisit her in a few years and find that we finally resonate with one another.

elif sinem

this was like reading a forest nymph come of age... in reverse because it was in reverse chronological order. oh my god. how pretty and gorgeous at all times.

Nat Lim

Mayra Melo

Emily S

I love Mary Oliver and this is a wonderful collection that spans her whole career. Definitely worth the read!

:) lily

this brought me so much peace. there is absolutely nothing wrong with a lesbian poet telling me to stop and smell the flowers for 450 pages.

Devotions The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

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