Product Description

In her first collection since winning the National Book Award in 1993, Mary Oliver writes of the silky bonds between every person and the natural world, of the delight of writing, of the value of silence. [Her] poems are...as genuine, moving and implausible as the first caressing breeze of spring (New York Times).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #861334 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .36" h x 6.96" w x 8.20" l, .36 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 72 pages

From Amazon.com
Wherein the poet continues her literary program with much the same sort of excellent poems about nature, the connection between the natural and the physical, and the tug-of-war between the familiar and the mysterious. I Found A Dead Fox, seemingly influenced by William Carlos Williams, gives one a good sense of the imagery in this fine collection. Oliver writes: "I found a dead fox / beside the gravel road,/ curled up inside the big/ iron wheel/ of an old tractor." Toads, mockingbirds, and afternoons of chopping wood fill these pages, as do beautiful, provocative images. Highly recommended.

From Booklist
The appetite for Oliver's poems has stayed strong after the very real pleasures of her National Book Award-winning New and Selected Poems (1992). This lovely volume contains 40 new poems, 40 blessings. Oliver's attentiveness to nature is active and hands-on. She walks through meadows, climbs trees, and, most of all, stares intently at copperheads, snails, hummingbirds, a dog devouring a dead fawn. She looks and looks, imprinting all that she sees deep in the glowing crucible of her mind, then pours her molten visions out into the molds of her poems where they cool to golden perfection. Elegant and bold, they warm back up once we hold them in our heart. We feel her exaltation over moments that change everything-- when deer walk up and touch her hands, when she watches hundreds of swans land on a lake in Ohio--and respond affirmatively to her admonishment: "to pay attention, this is our endless and proper work." We gladly pay attention to Oliver. Donna Seaman

Review
Wherein the poet continues her literary program with much the same sort of excellent poems about nature, the connection between the natural and the physical, and the tug-of-war between the familiar and the mysterious. I Found A Dead Fox, seemingly influenced by William Carlos Williams, gives one a good sense of the imagery in this fine collection. Oliver writes: "I found a dead fox / beside the gravel road,/ curled up inside the big/ iron wheel/ of an old tractor." Toads, mockingbirds, and afternoons of chopping wood fill these pages, as do beautiful, provocative images. Highly recommended. (Amazon.com Review )

The appetite for Oliver's poems has stayed strong after the very real pleasures of her National Book Award-winning New and Selected Poems (1992). This lovely volume contains 40 new poems, 40 blessings. Oliver's attentiveness to nature is active and hands-on. She walks through meadows, climbs trees, and, most of all, stares intently at copperheads, snails, hummingbirds, a dog devouring a dead fawn. She looks and looks, imprinting all that she sees deep in the glowing crucible of her mind, then pours her molten visions out into the molds of her poems where they cool to golden perfection. Elegant and bold, they warm back up once we hold them in our heart. We feel her exaltation over moments that change everything-- when deer walk up and touch her hands, when she watches hundreds of swans land on a lake in Ohio--and respond affirmatively to her admonishment: "to pay attention, this is our endless and proper work." We gladly pay attention to Oliver. (Booklist - Donna Seaman )