For National Poetry Month: Wild Geese

[sasha_feather]

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver



You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You have only to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
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.

Comments

[themeletor]

THIS.

thank you.

[sasha_feather]

<3

[anna_bird]

Ahhh, thanks for posting. I love Mary Oliver.

[sasha_feather]

Me too! <3

[heyfoureyes]

f. yeah.

[sasha_feather]

:)

[jesse_the_k]

*Sigh* and the geese have been crowding the airways this week.

[sasha_feather]

"announcing your place
in the family of things."

*sighs with you*

[oliviacirce]

I adore Mary Oliver, and I adore this poem. It's one of my favorites of hers, for sure -- although with her poems, it's difficult to pick favorites.

(My favorite favorite is here and here are some others I love (the last is my favorite of those), and here is my favorite poem ever in the world about libraries.)

[owlectomy]

This is by Kaylin Haught, and Karen Healey, author of the fabulous Guardian of the Dead, first pointed me at it:

God Says Yes to Me

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

[sasha_feather]

That is SO AWESOME.

It is my new FAVORITE.

<3

[teigh_corvus]

I always forget that she wrote this poem - I tend to default to thinking that I don't like Oliver's work. God, I love this piece.

[sasha_feather]

I love this piece too. :)

[teigh_corvus]

It made me cry. Which is a good thing, I think. Thank you for bringing it back into my attention. ♥

[wintercreek]

I love that poem.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love that poem SO MUCH.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

ME TOO! :D

[chiyo-no-saru.livejournal.com]

I totally needed this.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

<3

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

thank you :-)

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. :)