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Mary Oliver is sick.   so, as a way to love her, to Pray for her,   i think now and then i'll just put her words here.  this is from  House of Light

Five A.M. In The Pinewoods

I'd seen

their hoofprints in the deep

needles and knew

they ended the long night

under the pines, walking

like two mute

and beautiful women toward

the deeper woods, so I

got up in the dark and

went there.  They came

slowly down the hill

and looked at me sitting under

the blue trees, shyly

they stepped

closer and stared

from under their thick lashes and even

nibbled some damp tassels of weeds.  This

is not a poem about a dream,

though it could be.

This is a poem about the world

that is ours, or could be.

Finally

one of them…I swear it!….

would have come to my arms.

But the other

stamped sharp hoof in the

pine needles like

the tap of sanity,

and they went off together through

the trees.  When i woke

I was alone,

I was thinking:

so this is how you swim inward,

so this is how you flow outward,

so this is how you pray.

 

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38 responses to “thinking of ways to love”

  1. jude Avatar

    that’s probably it.

    Like

  2. Mo Crow Avatar

    her words continue sustain me so many times in this lifetime, here’s some that have your name on them Grace!!
    “You can have other words- chance, luck coincidence, serendipity. I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ll take it.” – Mary Oliver

    Like

  3. Valerianna Avatar

    I’m here.
    is all I can comment on this, words to follow these are inadequate – or could be (ha!)
    there’s me again, physically in your world…. another way to love, cause I love that.

    Like

  4. ;uie Avatar
    ;uie

    I’m not one for reading much poetry but I was given Dream Work and the gratitude that I feel for Mary Oliver is deep. For one who always walked slowly, eyes to the ground, her words, made me get belly down and feel an even stronger love for the gifts of the land. I want to add her poem, Milkweed to all of the above and your post grace:
    Milkweed
    The milkweed now with their many pods are standing
    like a country of old women.
    The wind lifts their flat leaves and drops them.
    This is not kind, but they retain a certain crisp glamour;
    moreover, it’s easy to believe
    each one was once young and delicate, also
    frightened, also capable
    of a certain amount of rough joy.
    I wish you could walk with me out into the world
    I wish you could see what has to happen, how
    each one crackles like a blessing
    over its thin children as they rush away.

    Like

  5. Henrietta (aka ani or zani) Avatar

    beautiful done grace…she is a blessing

    Like

  6. saskia Avatar

    well this sure is a nice way to show your love

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  7. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Ah Grace, to be in Mary Oliver’s skin of words is like waking to love made visible in syllables. It could be a common dream, it is a real scene in the world. I will think of the blue night and the deer while I am away in the woods. If I’m fortunate I will dream them into being.
    Since I’ll be off the web for two weeks, know I’ll miss your posts and all who answer here. May you be well.

    Like

  8. handstories Avatar

    “the blue trees”
    x, thank you for sharing this

    Like

  9. Henrietta (aka ani or zani) Avatar

    grace, you might be interested in this. there is a tribute blog set up to send mary oliver good wishes:
    http://formaryoliver.blogspot.com/

    Like

  10. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i so want her to get well

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  11. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    sometimes the words
    i’m here
    are just the best words

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  12. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Marti…thank you so much for Milkweed. yes. oh….

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  13. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    i wish i could figure out how to reduce the space
    between lines…how it appears here isn’t right and
    changes the energy
    but, better than not, i’m thinking……and yes, she
    IS.

    Like

  14. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    it’s been over a long time, this love of her poetry.
    a long long time.

    Like

  15. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    I am glad you will think of this while in the woods.
    that’s another way to pray.
    i wish you GREAT GREAT GREAT days away and look forward
    to your return.

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  16. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    yes…the blue trees………….

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  17. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Ani…thank you. i did see it, but felt so small to
    be writing there, but then…………..
    thank you for sending the link

    Like

  18. Linda Avatar

    i didn’t know she was sick. i have seen her read twice. she is so dear.
    i adore her work like no other.
    i will have her in my thoughts too..
    i have her poem hanging in my weaving room
    wild geese..

    Like

  19. Valerianna Avatar

    Wow, that is a moving and powerful tribute to her…. THIS is powerful healing magic for her I hope the words fill her with the love and gratitude they exude, and flush out any illness. Thanks for sharing this link, Henrietta!

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  20. Henrietta (aka ani or zani) Avatar

    Feelings from the heart are never too small.
    Sent from my iPhone

    Like

  21. Robyn Ayaz Avatar
    Robyn Ayaz

    Grace, wonderful thoughts for a powerful and wise woman and poet. I only fairly recently came to her poetry and it is achingly true and beautiful. I pray with all my heart that she gets well again.

    Like

  22. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Just one more touch base before I shut down. This evening (already Wednesday at 12:15AM EST) I am sooooooo grateful for you (how I long to find the way to meet) and the circle, of friends, of life, and to be headed out of myself into the wider world for awhile. That’s all.

    Like

  23. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    michelle….
    That’s a LOT.
    head out! GO!
    and come back and tell what you saw/felt.
    much love,

    Like

  24. Jacky Avatar
    Jacky

    Thank you for the beautiful words … those poems are so touching.
    I hope all of this loving, healing energy flows through to Mary.
    Jacky xox

    Like

  25. ;uie Avatar
    ;uie

    In scrolling through the link that Henrietta sent that was set up so we could send our thoughts to Mary Oliver, I found this update:
    Thursday, February 16, 2012
    Update on Mary Oliver
    From Mary Oliver’s Facebook page:
    “Dear Friends: Mary Oliver thanks all of her readers for the outpouring of good wishes. She is doing better, and anticipates a full recovery. The use of the word “serious” in explaining her illness has been perhaps over used. She will be fine and looks forward to feeling better and better
    Thank you”

    Like

  26. Mo Crow Avatar

    This is good news!
    & here’s a favourite line from Mary Oliver from an interview last year-
    Maria Shriver: One line of yours I often quote is, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” What do you think you have done with your one wild and precious life?
    Mary Oliver: I used up a lot of pencils.
    http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/Maria-Shriver-Interviews-Poet-Mary-Oliver/4

    Like

  27. Deb G Avatar

    Over the last couple years she has become one of my favorite poets…

    Like

  28. dee Avatar

    glad to hear poetess is feeling better – she has been a favorite of mine for so many years! Thank you for this one, today, Grace. It echoed words I’d read this morning from Julia Cameron: “… more than anything else, attention is an act of connection.” and prayer, therefore.

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  29. Elizabeth Fortes Avatar
    Elizabeth Fortes

    Thank you Grace for this heart warming post, as Mary Oliver seems to be in full recovery.
    She has been so important in my remembering of the relative importance of “being good”.
    And form her words, “the soft animal” of my body has allowed itself to be more alive
    in spite of everything…..
    ….. From The Wild Geese
    Love you and all friends,
    elizabeth

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  30. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i have read Wild Geese so many times and on some utube
    listened to her read it today
    and for the first time, i heard it differently.
    could it be?….
    of all the people who write, i would trust her
    maybe it is so.
    am thinking
    but then, you know, she is a woman, just like us.

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  31. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    she has written so much
    and i imagine has so much more to write
    i am greedy for her words

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  32. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    they say it does
    like all that Larry Dossey….long distance healing?????

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  33. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Marti…oh yes! and good, though, that there was an
    outpouring.
    i’m sure she knows how so many love her, but now
    she sees it this way and it would just add to it all

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  34. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    that would be you, too. Smile

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  35. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i watched a long utube of her in 2001. and then a more
    recent. i want to watch one in another 10 years.

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  36. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Julia…yes. she is a beautiful being. and we need to
    believe them, don’t we. we read and nod and know their
    words to be true, but we need to surrender and Believe.

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  37. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    ELIZABETH!!!!, hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    and yes, inspite of everything…….
    and i’m thinking, Because of everything….
    SO HAPPY to find you here today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Like

  38. Nancy Avatar

    I was here, more than once, and back again. But words fall away, so I stand empty with nothing to offer but my heart’s response. Thank you for this post Grace.

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