There are just too many quintessential poems for autumn and yes, I find myself repeating my favorites, and yes, I assume you don't mind (do you?), and yes, I need to share, along with this quintessential Mary Oliver, the quintessential Gatsby quote about autumn that I share every, single fall:
"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."
So here we are. I'm being predictable again, fall is ushering in the crispness, and Mary Oliver is being her Mary Oliver-est.
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
....
(Read the whole thing here, at The Poetry Foundation.)
~~~~~~~~~~
The never-predictable, always delightful Jama Rattigan
(Photo courtesy of Jill Wellington at Pixabay.)
14 comments:
Well, I'm sad to write that I don't remember ever reading the poem by Oliver, though I've read many of her books. I cannot choose a favorite line. Like Mary Oliver, it's perfect! I do know the Gatsby, can't forget that one. It's okay to be on repeat in the Autumn, Karen. I suspect we all are! It's sort of changing here, but we have been unusually warm so far. The leaves continue only to dream! Happy Weekend!
Wow, what a gorgeous poem (don't remember seeing it before either)! Thanks for bringing the beauty of autumn this week, Karen!
Karen, thank you for sharing – both are new to me, as far as my memory can recall! Ah, the goldenrod whispering goodbye! You can just feel that. Lovely! The perfect poem and quote for this clear fall day.
Ah, Autumn❣️🧡💛🍁🍂What could be more uplifting as the days drawn in, increasingly dark? Love M.O., of course. Thank you for sharing this one. Hope you are well, dear Karen! 🕊️🙏🏽
Gosh, can't you just see Oliver's poem as a picture book?? I wish I were an artist!
What a beautiful poem you shared with us, Karen. "Leaves dream" - how special that thought is! Thanks, Karen for the MO pause.
Linda, I agree about being on repeat ... I guess that's what seasons are all about. :)
Jama, happy to share the Oliver Love with you!
Tracey, Oliver really knows how to capture the essence, doesn't she?
elli, so good to "see" you here and I hope you are well too!
Patricia, what a gorgeous picture book that would be! ❤️
Carol, yes, I like to imagine, too, all that the leaves are dreaming.
Earlier this year I purchased 'Devotions-The Collected Poems of Mary Oliver' so I was hooked by the title of your post, Karen. Thank you for this Oliver offering.
Gorgeous poem! I am truly thrilled that it is autumn. It does feel new and crisp. Thanks, Karen xo
Today I witnessed the joy of leaves touching the ground at Wildwood Recreation Area. Thank you for the Mary Oliver poem.
Nope, don't mind at all! Mary Oliver is always just right. I have so many of her poems stuffed into my journals that I should really make a collection of them in a separate journal just for meditations. The idea of the earth feeling better than the endless freshets of wind...it's so lovely and so tinged with what we all must face at some point. Just beautiful.
Alan, that's a beautiful collection.
Tabatha, autumn thrills me too. Wish it could always be like this.
Jone, a joy to behold!
Linda, you're right, she's always just right. :) And yes to that poignant touch of what the future holds for us all.
This is a perfect Mary Oliver poem. I love that the "wind wags its many tails." Perfection!
Karen, your crisp-October sharing of the Gatsby idea & the Mary Oliver meditation on autumn are welcome every every every year, with their evocative shimmies into the season.. [ and this works even way down here. in Florida.
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