{"id":1573,"date":"2015-10-21T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T04:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1573"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:49:08","slug":"oct-21-an-80-year-old-poet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2015\/10\/21\/oct-21-an-80-year-old-poet\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct 21 – Mary Oliver at 80"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, October 21 \u00a0\u201cthe world offers itself to your imagination”<\/strong><\/p>\n

I happened on Krista Tippett interviewing Mary Oliver on npr\u2019s \u00a0\u201cOn Being\u201d this afternoon. \u00a0 Oliver’s poetry often visits this list. \u00a0That tipped me, for tomorrow morning\u2019s post, to \u201cWild Geese,\u201d which came to mind as I listened to her speak of her work ethic and of learning to live at home with stillness, mystery, wonder, and vast transcendence. \u00a0 As I drove back to campus, I decided that this achingly beautiful mid-October day was a perfect moment for the poem.<\/p>\n

Then, when I looked in the Work Day\/Hard Time archive blog to see how long it had been since I \u00a0posted “Wild Geese,” it turns out that this Wednesday, October 21, is exactly one month since I posted it last, in honor of my dad\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

“Should I run it again, after only a month had passed?\u201d \u00a0\u201cWhy not?\u201d \u00a0Mid October offers a perfect day to celebrate 80 years of this poet\u2019s life on the earth.<\/p>\n

Worth reading out loud. \u00a0Several times maybe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u00a0\u201cWild Geese\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"geese\"<\/a>You do not have to be good.
\nYou do not have to walk on your knees
\nfor a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
\nYou only have to let the soft animal of your body
\nlove what it loves.
\nTell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
\nMeanwhile the world goes on.
\nMeanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
\nare moving across the landscapes,
\nover the prairies and the deep trees,
\nthe mountains and the rivers.
\nMeanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
\nare heading home again.
\nWhoever you are, no matter how lonely,
\nthe world offers itself to your imagination,
\ncalls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
\nover and over announcing your place
\nin the family of things.<\/p>\n

\"Mary-Oliver\"<\/a><\/p>\n

mary oliver september 10, 1935
\nnational book award 1992
\npulitzer prize 1984<\/p>\n

To listen to her interview with Krista Tippett check here<\/u>.
\nhttp:\/\/www.onbeing.org\/program\/mary-oliver-listening-to-the-world\/7267\/audio<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, October 21 \u00a0\u201cthe world offers itself to your imagination” I happened on Krista Tippett interviewing Mary Oliver on npr\u2019s \u00a0\u201cOn Being\u201d this afternoon. \u00a0 Oliver’s poetry often visits this list. \u00a0That tipped me, for tomorrow morning\u2019s post, to \u201cWild … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1573"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1578,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1573\/revisions\/1578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}