Thursday, September 22, 2022

Poetry Friday: (Maisy and) "Song for Autumn" by Mary Oliver


It's here. 
It's autumn.
It's my favorite time of year. 
It's my favorite quote about autumn: 

"What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?"

"Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."
                        
 ~~ The Great Gatsby

It's my favorite kitten in autumn: 

Maisy on top of the world. 

Maisy making it incredibly hard for me to get anything done. 

Maisy, with no idea why we are applauding her very existence.


It's my favorite (okay, one favorite) Mary Oliver poem about autumn: 

Song for Autumn 
by Mary Oliver 

Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now
how comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of the air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees, especially those with
mossy hollows, are beginning to look for

the birds that will come—six, a dozen—to sleep
....
(Read the whole thing here, at The Poetry Foundation.) 

~~~~~~~~~~

It's my favorite thing to do on a Friday: 
refer you to the Poetry Friday host: 

8 comments:

Rose Cappelli said...

Thanks you for the great pictures of Maisy, Karen. And oh, how Mary Oliver says it so well. I'm a big fan, too.

Linda B said...

Thanks for the laugh seeing Maisy looking at all of you as if you are crazy! She is a cat, after all! I tried to choose a favorite line in Mary Oliver's poem but I failed. They are all my favorites! Happy fall, Karen!

jama said...

Thanks so much for the Mary Oliver fix. Pure gorgeousness! Loved seeing Maisy . . . wondering if I change my name to Maisy I'll hear spontaneous applause. :) Happy post, Happy fall!

Janice Scully said...

I love in Oliver's poem, "The wind wags it's many tails" and "long blue shadows" of the fox. Thanks for sharing this and your quite calm and poised cat, sitting like a queen on that pillow.

Tabatha said...

Beautiful cat, beautiful poem! I've really *felt* the transition to autumn this year.

Patricia Franz said...

It's my favorite time of year, too. I love Mary Oliver's child-like look at how excited a tree can be in autumn.

Linda Mitchell said...

ooops! Somehow, my comment got lost. Trying again...I love Maisy! What a sweet kitty. I wouldn't get much done either! I'd happily hold a purring kitten. I cannot get enough Mary Oliver. Thanks for this poem.

Carol Varsalona said...

Karen, I dream of Autumn drifting in and love the opening line of Mary Oliver's poem: Don’t you imagine the leaves dream now! Perhaps, your cat dream also as she lounges about and wonders.