lunabee34: (writer by sukibluefiction)
Upstream: Selected EssaysUpstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It feels almost blasphemous to give this three stars, but I vastly prefer Oliver as a poet to Oliver as an essayist.

Most of these essays are quite fine until they veer off into a bit too much tree-kissing (literal tree kissing). There's also an entire essay about letting a spider hatch her babies (multiple rounds of babies!) in the stairwell that leads to the cellar, and I cannot follow where Oliver would lead in that instance (I am cringing in visceral horror even as type).

One of my favorite lines: (of snow) "the world smells like water in an iron cup" (134).

The last couple essays in the collection are about aging and nearing the end of her life and dovetail nicely with my reading of Atwood's most recent poetry collection Dearly which is almost entirely about those themes.

Worth a read for sure but I think I'll stick with the poems.



View all my reviews


Expandblathering about what Oliver has to say about writing )
lunabee34: (reading by misbegotton)
1. from "Work" in The Leaf and the Cloud

I will sing for the veil that never lifts.
I will sing for the veil that begins, once in a lifetime, maybe, to lift.
I will sing for the rent in the veil.
I will sing for what is in front of the veil, the floating light.
I will sing for what is behind the veil--light, light, and more light.

Mary Oliver

ExpandReview of Mary Oliver's The Leaf and the Cloud )

My first real published paper was about Mary Oliver's connection to Gary Snyder (his poem "Riprap" and her poem "Riprap"). I have a great fondness for her poetry, and the world is a dimmer place without her light. RIP, Mary Oliver.

2. My Little Pony is killing me. First, they had a Lower Decks episode with all the random ponies that are always in the background of each episode, and it was just as boss as the Star Trek episode it was referencing. Then tonight, we learned that Princess Luna has forced herself to have horrible nightmares every night to punish herself for her tenure as Nightmare Moon. My heart, my heart, OMG, these ponies are fricking breaking my heart on a regular basis! Help!

3. Michael's proposal to Holly on The Office is so damn sweet. *sniffles*

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