The poet Mary Oliver died this week, and I’m convinced that if we all would take a break to read her poetry, we would be strengthened by it. The level of anger – about the shut-down, the bickering, the brutal weather – is remarkably high right now. Mary Oliver believed that poetry is one of the things that can save us – that it can “lift the latch” and give a “glimpse into a greater paradise” that is “beyond the margins of the self.” Perhaps this is the time to take a deep breath and turn to poetry, such as the ones found here.
Oliver, Mary. A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. Harcourt Brace & Co., 1994, p. 122.