FAVORITE POEM #9

Celebrate National Poetry Month!!



Today's poem is the favorite of dear sweet Kirie at Three Little Chickies. I am a big fan of Kirie's, so it should come as no surprise that I am a big fan of her favorite poem.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through 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.

- Mary Oliver

Kirie says this: "Mary Oliver's 'Wild Geese' is a poem that I am compelled to read again and again. I wrote about it in a post on my blog and said it's like a mantra for me. It is. I think the authoritative voice that Oliver uses is hugely powerful, and she speaks a message of acceptance that resonates with me. When I first read this poem, it was as though I had been waiting to hear such an exhortation my entire life; I sighed as though I had laid down a burden. When I feel isolated or overly critical of myself, I revisit this poem."

Quick Update:
1. Loved WICKED. Scandalicious!
2. Will be in Montgomery for Alabama Book Festival.
3. Am so sad to be missing book club! The girls are awesome and I was looking forward to the discussion about The Reader.
4. Lebanese Food Festival is also this weekend. Bring on the hummus and kibbee and stuffed grape leaves!