Mary Oliver

Whenever I am out moving through a beautiful landscape it is so much easier to feel at ease. There is an abiding peace that happens when I spend time with the waters, the forest, the desert, and everything else in between. Does that happen for you?

 

The world did not have to be beautiful to work. But it is. What does that mean?
Mary Oliver

Nature is my personal church. I find it easier to pray if I am outside. Usually I am walking. Sometimes I am dancing. After all, there is always a reason to rock out to the Joyful Song.

Last night I listened to several interviews with Mary Oliver – she and Rumi are my most favorite poets. Much of the conversation was based on her love of a walk in the woods, both in reference to exercise and Walden’s beautiful book. Like him, her love of nature resounds throughout her writing.

 

For an entire year, at the end of every yoga class I read Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese. Arguably a repetitive offering to my students. But I often find that there is power by way of repetition. I have certainly seen that power in my personal practice and in my students’ practices. During the course of the following interview she speaks to the the necessity of repetition and rigor in her art. She touches on the many failed attempts and the requirement to keep going, keep doing, keep writing. Plus she recites Wild Geese: Mary Oliver On Being

Question: Where have you seen the power of repetition in your own life?

To read more about Mary Oliver’s poetry click here.