Greg’s Comments (group member since Jul 02, 2014)

Greg’s comments from the All About Books group.

Nidhi wrote: "Yes, she is wonderful and the poem ends on a optimistic note. I am planning to some more poetry by her , may be A Thousand Mornings."

Let me know what you think of it Nidhi! I read a couple of her older books a while ago, but she's published quite a few books I think. I'd like to read another someday.

I do like her optimism and her passion for the natural world!

Laurel wrote: "Thanks, Greg. I love Mary Oliver! Great choice."

Glad you liked it Laurel! She's wonderful, isn't she? :)

LauraT wrote: "I've just started our Group read Sea of Tranquility and at the same time a novel for a Group read of my local library: The Round House: we'll discuss it next Tuesday..."

How fun Laura, hope you have a wonderful birthday next week! And I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of Sea of Tranquility!

Damini wrote: "I'll take 12th June :)"

Thanks Damini! :)

Finished The Library at Mount Char (★★★★ (4.0)) and quite enjoyed it, though the climax of my interest happened a little while before the book ended. I liked the resolution, even though the pace slowed down for me in the last quarter.

Also finished The Moon Is Down (★★★★ (3.5)) by John Steinbeck, and I quite enjoyed it. It's an unusual take on foreign occupation, much less hard edged than I'm used to for books on that topic, but it was compelling nevertheless. I loved its unrelenting humanity, its stubborn assumption of core humaneness within the human being.

I'm reading Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens) slowly with another group . . . and I've also begun both The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead) and Exhalation (Ted Chiang). I'm enjoying all three in very different ways.

I will take the week of the 5th of June. So, that leaves three weeks still open for anyone to sign up. Just post which date you'd like to take.

Please sign up here if you would like to share any poem of your choice in June.

Please post in this thread and let me know which date you'd like if you want to sign up. We can only keep this new incarnation of the Monday Poem going if we have enough interest. So if you're interested, please do sign up! To sign up just post a comment saying which date you want.

5th June: Greg
12th June: Damini
19th June: Jade
26th June:

Leslie wrote: "Great choice Greg! I love Mary Oliver's poetry; in some ways she reminds me of Robert Frost in the use of nature and seemingly simple images.

When I first read this poem, I identified the thorn a..."

That makes a lot of sense to me Leslie! I like your idea of what the thorn represents.

Ruth wrote: "I will second The Housekeeper and The Professor."

Thanks Ruth! :)

Kathleen wrote: "Maybe it's meant to be an act of God, or anthropomorphic, but the way Oliver makes the morning live and breathe for us, like fastening the leaves to the branches, gives me a new appreciation of it all."

Definitely Kathleen, the description of the making of the morning has such beauty - the painting on of the lillies, the attaching of the leaves . . . it is so intimate, a creation by hand, a continual daily creation by hand!

I don't know if for her it is God, or a mystical thing with the world, or even if it is created by our sight, by our ability and active seeing of it, almost a co-creation between us and the sacred presence . . . for me, it's as intimate as if the hands of our vision and the hands of the sacred presence touch, working together in shaping the clay pot of the world underneath our combined hands as the clay spins underneath.

Either way, it is such a lovely idea, and somewhat unique. I don't think I've seen it expressed before quite the way she does

Ruth wrote: "That was beautiful. I had heard of Mary Oliver but had not read any of her poems. I think I will have to remedy that."

I do recommend her work Ruth! Her poetry is not difficult to read, but the craft is wonderful - I find her a constant pleasure!

Raul wrote: "This is such a lovely poem Greg. Thank you for sharing."

Thanks Raul, and so good to see you here!! :)

Nidhi wrote: "Nice poem to start with, Greg. I liked the imagery used for morning and night and the thorns for unhappiness."

The morning and night are truly beautiful in this poem as they unfold, yes, and I like the flow as well!

Kathleen wrote: "What a wonderful choice, Greg! I love Mary Oliver. This really speaks to me this morning, and was just what a needed to hear.

For me, the thorn is when you're having a problem, a bad day, the down..."

Beautifully said Kathleen! :)

I love that idea of nature as a talisman; it speaks to me as well.
Everyone gets discouraged sometimes and needs a little renewal of spirit. I know I do! And your interpretation certainly makes sense to me as one possible meaning of the thorn.

It makes me think of when I went to visit Yosemite with my sister and nephew last summer, wading though a perfectly clear stream of snowmelt on a blazing hot day among the red rocks. It was a spiritual experience and a renewal for me, to share that moment in the natural world and with the people I loved. The year after Ron's stroke was so very rough, and I needed to feel again that sense of profound connection and the wonder and joy of it!

Thanks for the nominations everyone! Keep them coming!

Thanks Laura and Nidhi!

Cleo wrote: "Now I know why Mary Oliver's name is so familiar! I have her A Poetry Handbook which I've never read but perhaps I should!

From a quick read, I notice the colours in the beginning of ..."

Some wonderful thoughts Cleo!!

I love how you thought about this so deeply, and I think you're right, the poem is gogeously visual and evocative!

For me, those particular lines you quoted are about our animal or primal response to the world. Within us there is that primal joy for the world too, though sometimes we don't notice it or give in to it or we forget to open ourselves up to it. When we see the beauty of the Grand Canyon or the unspoiled jungles or forests, something in our inner being (that primal beast within us) calls out in joy, awe, and wonder! In some senses, it is exactly what our spirit wants; in our experience of it, it is perfect.

Oliver is a bit of a mystic in that way; to her, I think that experience of the world itself is a prayer. In many of her poems, I get the sense that in her connection to the world, she finds her connection to God. She is not traditionally religious as far as I know, but that connection or experience of the world is like a prayer for her; it is something sacred.

But you're right, it seems in this poem that there can be something than can hold us back from the full experience of the world, a "thorn . . . ,heavier than lead" that distracts us from the natural joy and wonder. What is it, that heaviness of spirit? Could it be different things to different people? I don't know.

But even then, even when that heaviness of spirit holds us back, the beauty of the "blazing lillies" is still there! It is still there like a sacred experience, a prayer of its own, ready for us to partake. Happiness is almost like a choice here, for us to sieze that experience of the lillies or not. We have to dare to take it. But even if we don't, the lillies do not vanish; they are still there for us, even if we choose not to partake.

That's my personal way of seeing the poem anyway.

By the way, I accidentally posted the poem twice at first, and I deleted one of the two incarnations. If anyone commented on the second copy before I deleted it, please forgive my confusion. It was not intentional!

Happy first week of the new Monday Poem everyone!

I had a tough time choosing which poem and which poet to start with in reviving the Monday poem. There are so many to choose from!

But Mary Oliver is something special, and this poem seems appropriate, as it envisions as part of the morning, the world literally created anew. And I find the sentiment of the poem just lovely.

It's been shared before, a long time ago, but it's well worth sharing again.

What does everything think of it? Does it speak to you like it does to me?

Morning Poem

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches ---
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead ---
if it's all you can do
to keep on trudging ---

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray