Just finished Thirst, Mary Oliver’s latest poetry collection.
As a preacher, from time to time I worry that I only have about three or four sermons that I have been preaching over and over. (I’m not the only one who gets preoccupied with this.) Well, I’m going to stop worrying, because Mary Oliver only has three or four poems that she’s writing over and over, but each iteration is perfectly beautiful. There’s the “make the most of your astonishing life” poem… the bird poem… the “being attentive is a kind of prayer” poem… the “I sat here really still and a deer showed up” poem… you get the idea.
I kid.
This book actually goes beyond Oliver’s usual themes and is more personal and more overtly spiritual than others. She writes about grief over the loss of her partner of more than 40 years… yes, that’s a four-decade relationship that’s a grave! threat! to the sanctity! of marriage! But I digress.
I enjoyed this volume, though I prefer her poems that evoke the divine a little less explicitly. It was jarring for me to hear her call God “He.” I don’t object to the masculine pronoun per se, it’s just that the natural world seems to be such a place of spiritual sustenance for her, yet the God we meet in nature transcends the anthropomorphic… at least for me.
I recently read Mary Karr’s poetry collection, Sinners Welcome, and some of the themes are similar, but Karr seems to be Oliver wisecracking younger sister.
Anyway, well worth a look. I think the RevGals had a recent discussion of this book, no?
12 Responses to “reading challenge, january 16”
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Asides
» It’s National Procrastination Week (who comes up with these things?), and in honor of people like me who like to celebrate NPW all year long, here’s a good article.
» Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves? Well, that’s kind of a silly question, but I’ve come this far with the blog challenge… I did get this Gelaskin for my laptop. If you see me in the coffee place, say hi.
» When did you get your best rush of the year? Here.
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Thank God they don’t let such people marry. Why it might have led to an entire lifetime of sin and degredation…./snark
New material is over-rated. Look, the Bible dates back thousands of years. What’s the chance anyone today can find something actually new?
Don Williams used to say, “Every song that will ever be written has already been written long before I was born. I’m just trying to find an interesting variation that entertains people for three and a half minutes.”
So you don’t have to be new. You just have to be interesting. Or, at least, not deathly boring.
I love the poems in “Thirst,” or the ones I have read so far. I tend to dip in, rather than read all the way through, although it’s on the top of my Book Challenge pile and I intend to be a bit more linear, soon.
Do you have a favorite in the book?
Mmm. I really loved “Thirst,” though I’m reading several books by her at the same time, so I’m not keeping the volumes separate in my mind. I’m also reading “Why I Wake Early” and “Long Life.” I’m looking forward to seeing her read at UCLA next weekend. (That is, if SoCal doesn’t blow away tonight!)
I think every poet and writer and singer (etc.) has a groove they run in, which isn’t to say they can’t break out of it, but the groove is made up of the trains of thought that interest and occupy them most. Nothing wrong with that. I like that Oliver walks the same route and observes the same things daily, because there’s so much variety, even in what seems routine, if one takes the time to look. Thanks for this post.
SB, thank you for giving me an excuse to dip into the book again!
I love these a lot:
Walking Home from Oak-Head
The Winter Wood Arrives
**Those Days
A Pretty Song
Around here the SP and I communicate about upcoming Sundays and their general content by simply mentioning which of our three sermons (each) we think we’re preaching this week. So I say, “do you know where you’re going so I can plan the children’s time?” and he’ll say “Grace.” Or he’ll ask me a similar question and I’ll just say, “God is bigger than your box.”
I figure it’s okay if we each only have three sermons—at least we’re under no illusions about that (though I am constantly surprised at how the Spirit works so that people in the pews don’t seem to notice the constant repetition…).
I seriously doubt that they don’t notice. The best we can hope is that they don’t complain because they know they need to hear those six sermons again and again.
Repetition is the key to learning.
I think I have only 2 sermons. Must work on this. Three seems to be operative.
Our preaching prof was deadly serious when she told us every preacher has 3-7 sermons, max. I’ve heard her (preaching prof) preach. I think she’s right on the money.
I’m at about five, but working on number 6.
Repetition is the key to learning.
often when i write, i think i’m writing what I need to hear. perhaps when you preach the same sermon over and over it’s because this is the message that YOU need to hear.
hmmmm
ponder that one for a moment and see where it takes you.
anne, that’s one of my “stock” responses in the greeting line after church!