{"id":4611,"date":"2013-02-02T05:54:41","date_gmt":"2013-02-02T10:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=4611"},"modified":"2013-02-02T05:59:53","modified_gmt":"2013-02-02T10:59:53","slug":"4611","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=4611","title":{"rendered":"bloggers’ silent poetry reading: mary oliver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is the eighth annual Bloggers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (Silent) Poetry Reading in honor of St. Brigid, patron saint of poetry. It seems that organization of the “festival” has moved onto Facebook<\/a>, so check there for other poems to read.<\/p>\n

This year, I happen to have Mary Oliver’s latest collection of poems, A Thousand Mornings<\/em>, out from the library, so I thought I’d share a couple of her poems, one short and one a bit longer (although not long in the grand scheme of poetry):<\/p>\n

\nThree Things to Remember<\/strong>
\n        ~Mary Oliver<\/p>\n

As long as you’re dancing, you can
\n    break the rules.
\nSometimes breaking the rules is just
\n     extending the rules.<\/p>\n

Sometimes there are no rules.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

\nAnd Bob Dylan Too<\/strong>
\n       ~Mary Oliver<\/p>\n

“Anything worth thinking about is worth
\n     singing about.”<\/p>\n

Which is why we have
\nsongs of praise, songs of love, songs
\n    of sorrow<\/p>\n

Songs to the gods, who have
\n    so many names.<\/p>\n

Songs the shepherds sing, on the
\n    lonely mountains, while the sheep
\n        are honoring the grass, by eating it.<\/p>\n

The dance-songs of the bees, to tell
\n    where the flowers, suddenly, in the
\n        morning light, have opened.<\/p>\n

A chorus of many, shouting to heaven,
\n    or at it, or pleading.<\/p>\n

Or that greatest of love affairs, a violin
\n    and a human body.<\/p>\n

And a composer, maybe hundreds of years dead.<\/p>\n

I think of Schubert, scribbling on a caf\u00c3\u00a9
\n    napkin.
\n        Thank you, thank you.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Feel free to participate on your own blog or Facebook page (or, if you like haiku or other short poems, Twitter) or to add a poem of your own choosing in my comments if you don’t have an online space you call your own.<\/p>\n

\n

My previous years of participation in this event have brought us poems by Wislawa Szymborska<\/a>, Stuart Dischell<\/a>, Jean Esteve<\/a>, John Frederick Nims<\/a>, Mary Oliver<\/a>, Grace Paley<\/a>, Heather McHugh<\/a>, and Barbara Hamby<\/a>, all of which are worth a re-read should you be so inclined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is the eighth annual Bloggers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (Silent) Poetry Reading in honor of St. Brigid, patron saint of poetry. It seems that organization of the “festival” has moved onto Facebook, so check there for other poems to read. This year, I happen to have Mary Oliver’s latest collection of poems, A Thousand Mornings, out from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts"],"yoast_head":"\nbloggers' silent poetry reading: mary oliver - sprite writes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spritewrites.net\/?p=4611\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"bloggers' silent poetry reading: mary oliver - sprite writes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is the eighth annual Bloggers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (Silent) Poetry Reading in honor of St. Brigid, patron saint of poetry. 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