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A review by toebean5
American Primitive by Mary Oliver
4.0
Another beautiful volume. I have just never read anything else like her- poems that are short and simple, but manage to really make you feel that something like eating honey is a magical, timeless, existential experience. Hard to explain- but here are some favorite bits:
Yesterday someone was here with a gasping face.
Now the bed is made all new,
the machines have been rolled away. The silence
continues, deep and neutral,
as I stand there, loving you. -"University Hospital, Boston"
You must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.- "In Blackwater Woods"
Yesterday someone was here with a gasping face.
Now the bed is made all new,
the machines have been rolled away. The silence
continues, deep and neutral,
as I stand there, loving you. -"University Hospital, Boston"
You must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.- "In Blackwater Woods"