Nothing Soothes My Soul More

Mary, Hazel and Me

Did Someone Say It's National Poetry Day?

Well then, HOORAY! 

I am thankful for the gorgeous one who introduced poetry to me, though I encountered my favorite on my own. 

I remember the exact Saturday in early September (It was 8:30 in the morning.) I remember precisely what I was doing (If you care to know, I was laying on my back in Millennium Park preparing for a 100 person community yoga class. My eyes were closed.) I remember exactly how it felt at that moment (The bright, Indian summer sun was warming my body. Anticipation.)

And this is when I heard it for the first time…

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles throughout the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

- Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

She Speaks to Me

IF I WANTED A BOAT

 

I would want a boat, if I wanted a

boat, that bounded hard on the waves,

that didn't know starboard from port

and wouldn't learn, that welcomed

dolphins and headed straight for the

whales, that, when rocks were close,

would slide in for a touch or two,

that wouldn't keep land in sight and

went fast, that leaped into the spray.

What kind of life is it always to plan

and do, to promise and finish, to wish

for the near and the safe? Yes, by the

heavens, if I wanted a boat I would want

a boat I couldn't steer. 

    

~  From "Blue Horses" by Mary Oliver

It's Monday, May 2nd! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Here it is, Monday once again! It was an exciting weekend indeed. I met one of my idols/girl crushes. The Chicago Humanities Foundation event on Saturday night was Mary-Louise Park who wrote the amazing memoir titled Dear Mr. You. My feelings about her, the book, and the evening are fair too extensive and deserve a post of their own. If you want to read a great and recent review of her book, check out this fun one over at a favorite book reviewing website, Dunce Academy.

What have I recently finished?

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. Here’s what I said about it in last week’s post. This book. So many feelings. I’ve been there. 

Felicity by Mary Oliver. I am a devoted Oliver fan. Her poems make my heart sing. This is my third collection. I will continue to seek out her words as long as I live.

What am I currently reading?

I am just about finished listening to The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. I forgot how sociopathic Tom Ripley truly is. 

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Mara. The four stories I have so far read have been outstanding! Here is a review I enjoyed.

The Little Virtues by Natalia Ginzburg. These are essays translated from Italian. Recommended by Zadie Smith (who wrote White Teeth), in an article I found in this link.

Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys. This one is touted by Lauren Groff, of Fates and Furies fame, in the article mentioned above. I loved that book. How could I resist?

What will I read next?

No one knows but the shadow. My mom says this a lot.

Tell me, tell me! What are you reading?