Red bird came all winter / firing up the landscape / as nothing else could. So begins Mary Oliver's twelfth book of poetry, and the image of that f...
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reviews
May 09, 2008
brian
rated it: 
I read this a month or two ago in preparation for a reading last night -- I didn't quite know what to expect as I am somewhat new to Mary Oliver. Anyway, it was a beautiful night and an incredible reading. She was a bit older than I imagined and a bit more frail, but that is truly beside the point.
My original interpretation of the poems in Red Bird, perhaps due entirely to the way I read them, had a slight sensuality to them. Hearing Mary read aloud some of these poems (and from othe More...
My original interpretation of the poems in Red Bird, perhaps due entirely to the way I read them, had a slight sensuality to them. Hearing Mary read aloud some of these poems (and from othe More...
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Jun 13, 2008
Bells
rated it: 
GO GET THIS BOOK!
Yeah,I'm yelling at you , reading the Sandra Brown! Hey!! Put down the James Patterson and get your hands on this!! It will rock your poetic world.
GO! While you are out, pick up a copy for me, so I don't "forget" to give this back to my friend.
Yeah,I'm yelling at you , reading the Sandra Brown! Hey!! Put down the James Patterson and get your hands on this!! It will rock your poetic world.
GO! While you are out, pick up a copy for me, so I don't "forget" to give this back to my friend.
8 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Mar 30, 2008
Nikki
rated it:
...and this is why I have been sent,
To teach this to your heart.
What a beautiful variety of poetry. I am new to Mary Oliver and can't wait to get my hands on more of her writing. She expresses love, appreciation for nature, gratitude, and even disappointment with those who are power hungry in a very flowing prose.
To teach this to your heart.
What a beautiful variety of poetry. I am new to Mary Oliver and can't wait to get my hands on more of her writing. She expresses love, appreciation for nature, gratitude, and even disappointment with those who are power hungry in a very flowing prose.
2 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 20, 2009
Josephine
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I loved this book. Definitely one of my favorite Mary Oliver collections. I was particularly struck by the poems in this book that concern words, and specifically, the writing of words. On one hand, Ms. Oliver ponders, words are everything. But on the other, they are nothing. She puts the image of herself, constantly finding beauty, joy, and anguish in writing and manipulating language, against the image of the red bird, the fox, the owl. In the natural world, of which she writes so much about,
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Apr 29, 2010
Sarah
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I am a recent fan of Mary Oliver, and I cannot get enough of her now that I know her. To know her truly is to love her.
I found myself in the campus bookstore today, and as it is the end of National Poetry Month, they are finishing up a promotion where some featured poetry works were 20% off. Having worked tirelessly for the past few days especially to get some papers in under the wire, I rewarded myself with a new book, which I could not put down.
I look forward to rere More...
I found myself in the campus bookstore today, and as it is the end of National Poetry Month, they are finishing up a promotion where some featured poetry works were 20% off. Having worked tirelessly for the past few days especially to get some papers in under the wire, I rewarded myself with a new book, which I could not put down.
I look forward to rere More...
Feb 21, 2012
Teri
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WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL! I can SO relate to her poems. I'm buying this book for myself, and my friends. Thanks Tanya for the great recommendation.
I will try.
I will step from the house to see what I see
and hear and I will praise it.
I did not come into this world
to be comforted.
I came, like red bird, to sing.
Watching a Documentary about Polar Bears
Trying to Survive on the melting Ice Floes
That God had a pl More...
I will try.
I will step from the house to see what I see
and hear and I will praise it.
I did not come into this world
to be comforted.
I came, like red bird, to sing.
Watching a Documentary about Polar Bears
Trying to Survive on the melting Ice Floes
That God had a pl More...
May 08, 2011
Terresa
rated it: 
This collection represents quintessential Oliver.
She is in fine form here, notably in the poems, Invitation (p. 18), and Sometimes (p. 35). I noted twenty-five other exemplary poems, out of a collection of sixty-one.
When her words resonate, they sing. When they don't, they fall like flattened leaves.
I expected greatness in this collection and found goodness, with the exception of what I can only surmise are "filler" poems.
My only More...
She is in fine form here, notably in the poems, Invitation (p. 18), and Sometimes (p. 35). I noted twenty-five other exemplary poems, out of a collection of sixty-one.
When her words resonate, they sing. When they don't, they fall like flattened leaves.
I expected greatness in this collection and found goodness, with the exception of what I can only surmise are "filler" poems.
My only More...
Oct 03, 2009
Ann
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I like this book better than her previous one, Thirst. It offers many of the same themes but...better. Reminds me of how I liked Donald Hall's Without, but felt the poems in his The Painted Bed were better poems. Maybe being too close to grief affects the work; the poems in Thirst are more awkward. Maybe more immediate (hence more "true"?), but less pleasing overall.
Jan 22, 2012
Tanya
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An outstanding collection of poems (by an author who is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award)... I would love to read it again. I would like to own it, and may post a couple of my favorites later after looking through it again.
To me they are spiritual and earthy, making one feel a closer connection to nature and God.
To me they are spiritual and earthy, making one feel a closer connection to nature and God.
Sep 27, 2009
Erin
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Mary Oliver’s close ties to the earth and all it’s beauty, are plainly evident in her poetry. She writes about life, love, loss, the human body and spirit and magnificently uses nature as her muse and metaphors. Her impassioned view of life and the nature that surrounds us is inspirational to me.
Mar 15, 2010
Charlotte Hutson
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As usual, Mary Oliver's poems heal, illuminate and soothe me. This book's poems deal with loss and grief and love more than the others. And for me, it is perfect timing. Thank you, Mary Oliver, for your love songs. Can't click "I have finished this book" below, for I will never finish this book.
Jun 26, 2009
Geoffrey
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Read half of this book out lout to my daughter last night. Totally lovely. So far, not as many "hit me hard like a thump on my chest" as I usually encounter after reading twenty poems or so. The last one I read was the one she published just after the love of her life had died. . .
Feb 11, 2012
Cornelio
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With Mary Oliver one is always struck by the effortless lyricism and how she finds the music in animals and nature - and consequently ourselves, even in its absence. The poem "Luke" embodies this perfectly: an elegy to very loved dog that at the same time function as a lament of what we humans often hope to but fail to emulate: "the way we love/ or don't love—/ but the way/ we long to be—/ that happy/ in the heaven of earth—/ that wild, that loving."
Nov 28, 2009
Angie
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These poems evoke such beautiful images in my mind...walking along a wooded path, watching the ocean rush onto the sand, colorful fall leaves, crisp winter snow, birds and animals in all of these settings. Really lovely!
Aug 27, 2009
Casey
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Somehow Mary Oliver's words manage to throw a pond into my living room and create space for LIFE in my heart. It's like the ink on the pages of her books is made up of love of life, distilled to its most essential form.
Dec 01, 2010
Sharon
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I have read many of Mary Oliver's writings. She strikes a chord in the very depths of my being. She is an observer of nature and an eloquent writer. The recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She has many books available, I am just listing this one.
Jan 10, 2010
Michele
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This is my favorite book of 2009, as much for the story of how it found me than the poems contained within. Mary Oliver is a soul friend--capable of making me feel not alone, and slightly less crazy.
Nov 06, 2010
Elisabeth
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I love all of Mary Oliver's writing, but every once in a while I run across a poem that blows me away. "The Journey" has long been my favorite of her poems, but "Straight Talk from Fox" in Red Bird simply took my breath away, and may be my new favorite. The whole book is wonderful, but worth reading for this one poem alone.
Sep 21, 2011
Maria
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Ethereal and earthy. I always feel things are very simple and very deep when reading Mary Oliver. She's full of significance, includes weighty detail, but never feels silly.
Nov 23, 2008
Matt
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This is Mary Oliver's latest. Her voice remains both positive and authentic. She's grounded in nature, but manages to draw important abstract conclusions.
Feb 12, 2012
David
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Everything Mary Oliver writes is extraordinary. Yes, i'm deeply biased- I love the woman, the artist. I recommend all of her collections which are- thank God- many.
Feb 19, 2011
Camilla
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Hmmm. How many stars to give a book of poetry that you didn't enjoy especially (too much nature, too much God), but could see was well-written??
Apr 14, 2011
Caroline
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Terrific poetry. I think my favorite was "Percy (eight)." Great for doglovers and poetry lover alike.
Sep 14, 2010
Melanie
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Mary Oliver is one of my all-time favorite poets-- I do not say this lightly, as a poet and voracious reader of poetry myself. Oliver's poetry is exquisite in its clarity and no one can make a nature metaphor more beautiful! Another excellent offering from Oliver. Her series of poems about her dog, Percy, are delightful and well-worth rereading (and sharing with friends, as I have done). Bravo! I've reread these poems at least ten times in two months I've had the volume. For anyone who think
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Jan 05, 2011
Lea
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"it is a serious thing/just to be alive/on this fresh morning/in this broken world." Mary Oliver
Jul 26, 2009
Suzanne
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It's hard to find adequate words to describe a writer like Mary Oliver. Her poems and observations, here as always, are just luminous. I read this collection cover-to-cover on a summer afternoon, lying in a porch swing, savoring one after another of the humble but profound truths she so masterfully reveals through the metaphorical prism of nature. From love to loss, gratitude to grief, and Iraq to global warming, Oliver always strikes the perfect note. What a gift and a blessing to have a so
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Mar 20, 2009
Kristen
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This is my go-to book when I am deeply depressed. Her poems are healing.
