Mary Oliver (9/10/1935 – 1/17/2019)

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work,” Mary Oliver wrote, and I think this may be her greatest gift, her singular instruction to us.  Whether it was the white owl “with its depths of light,” an otter displaying “brave underside to wave washings,” or the sight of goldenrod in the morning “fresh from heaven’s soft wash in the chill night,” she lavished each with her unwavering gaze. Ostensibly a “nature poet,” she was so much more than that, melding inner and outer landscapes in an unforgettable way.  Her poems aren’t simply beautiful, they’re an invitation to enter beauty, to celebrate the many permutations of the wild that she observed on her excursions to the woods, the lakes and rivers, and the beaches near her longtime home in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  The world has lost a bright spirit and a great artist in Mary Oliver, but her light will continue to shine and inspire others, and for this we can be grateful.

Gathering Voices

Mary Macconnell’s Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Workshop (Yes Yes Books, 2018), gives pointers on how to run a successful poetry group in a classroom or community-based setting.  Designed for experienced teachers as well as aspiring facilitators, the book offers writing prompts and grounding techniques in the Gathering Voices approach.  Winner of the 2017 Michael Waters Poetry Prize, Macconnell earned an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and runs poetry workshops in the Chicago area.  www.yesyesbooks.com 

Eckphrasic Challenge

Rattle Magazine now offers a monthy “eckphrasic challenge” — providing art to inspire poetry.  Two winners will be selected each month for online publication.  For details, visit www.ratttle.com.

Newsletter

The Poetry Society offers a free, sixteen-page newsletter to all members.  A sample can be found online at www.poetrysociety.org.uk.

Poems and Essays by Tony Hoagland

Tony Hoagland has written about the practice of writing poetry in three essays that appeared in the New Ohio Review (Fall, 2018).  In The Pursuit of Ignorance: The Challenging Figuration of Not Knowing, he offers that “Recognizing our ignorance, we find richer hues of incomprehension — a feeling not to be conquered, but explored, and possibly extended.”  A collection of his poems, Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God, was published by Graywolf Press in 2018.

Writing Prompt

Using a photo from a newspaper or magazine, a family album, or a photo you took yourself, freewrite about the image and what it elicits for you.  You may want to set a time limit such as five or ten minutes.  When you’ve finished, select the most surprising observation or emotion that you discovered in this exercise and write a poem that addresses that.