When I heard that Mary Oliver’s new poetry collection ‘Blue Horses’ has come out, I couldn’t wait to get it and read it. I read it in one breath. Here is what I think.
‘Blue Horses’ has thirty-eight poems. They are on topics which are close to Mary Oliver’s heart – nature, plants, trees, flowers, animals, insects, seasons. There are also poems on love, art, yoga, spirituality and other everyday topics. Each poem is different – each has a different number of lines, some are short some are long, there is no consistency in terms of form and structure – but all of them are beautiful. If one is new to Mary Oliver, one would expect that at some point she would unfurl all the poetic pyrotechnics and dazzle the reader – something that might intimidate the non-specialist reader of poetry – but one would be wrong. Mary Oliver doesn’t bother with metre and rhyme and rhythm and alliteration and the iamb and the dactyl and the trochee. She just writes one beautiful poem after another in free verse which is accessible to the general reader and touches our hearts with beautiful images and thoughts and in the process makes it look so deceptively simple, like the best poets do.
I loved every poem in the book. Here are a few of my favourites.
What I Can Do
The television has two instruments that control it.
I get confused.
The washer asks me, do you want regular or delicate?
Honestly, I just want clean.
Everything is like that.
I won’t even mention cell phones.
I can turn on the light of the lamp beside my chair
where a book is waiting, but that’s about it.
Oh yes, and I can strike a match and make fire.
No Matter What
No matter what the world claims,
its wisdom always growing, so it’s said,
some things don’t alter with time :
the first kiss is a good example,
and the flighty sweetness of rhyme.
No matter what the world preaches
spring unfolds in its appointed time,
the violets open and the roses,
snow in its hour builds its shining curves,
there’s the laughter of children at play,
and the wholesome sweetness of rhyme.
No matter what the world does,
some things don’t alter with time.
The first kiss, the first death.
The sorrowful sweetness of rhyme.
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.
Do Stones Feel?
Do stones feel?
Do they love their life?
Or does their patience drown out everything else?
When I walk on the beach I gather a few
white ones, dark ones, the multiple colors,
Don’t worry, I say, I’ll bring you back, and I do.
Is the tree as it rises delighted with its many
Branches,
each one like a poem?
Are the clouds glad to unburden their bundles of rain?
Most of the world says no, no, it’s not possible.
I refuse to think to such a conclusion.
Too terrible it would be, to be wrong.
Have you read ‘Blue Horses’? What do you think about it?
Other reviews
I have not read it yet but now I must get this volume of poems. Mary Oliver is from my home town and I adore her poetry! Thanks for writing about this, Vichy, you don’t see many bloggers that cover poetry.
I hope you get to read this collection, Valorie. The poems are very accessible, simple and beautiful. And we can read it in one sitting. So wonderful to know that Mary Oliver is from your hometown! Have you met her? So jealous of you 🙂
No, I have not me her. She is 20 years older than I so by the time I came along she had left. Would love to meet her some day.
Interesting to know that, Valorie. Hope you get to meet her sometime. Maybe she will come for a poetry reading to a bookstore near your home 🙂
“No matter what the world claims,
its wisdom always growing, so it’s said,
some things don’t alter with time :
the first kiss is a good example,
and the flighty sweetness of rhyme.”
How absolutely lovely! Everytime you introduce me to wonderful poetry I remind myself to be better about reading poetry, but still I often fail. This one needs to go on my tbr! Oh but I recently read some stuff by Suheir Hammad 🙂
Glad to know that you liked that poem, Bina. Mary Oliver is really wonderful. Hope you get to read this book. I will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. Thanks for telling me about Suheir Hammad. She looks like a very fascinating poet. I would love to read one of her poem collections. Am adding her to my ‘TBR’ list.
Hi, Vishy!
I just want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I read your posts though I seldom comment on them. Thank you.
Best wishes from Porto, Portugal.
PS: I don’t have yoe-mail.
Thanks a lot, Isolete 🙂 Wish you too a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much as well, Vishy! It’s such a lovely collection. I enjoyed reading your thoughts, and loved the poems you selected to include here. 🙂
Thanks for beautifully reviewing Mary Oliver’s collection, Emily. It inspired me to read her book sooner. I think it is one of my favourite poetry books of the year.
No matter what the world does,
some things don’t alter with time.
The first kiss, the first death.
The sorrowful sweetness of rhyme.
This is lovely, Vishy, I’ve read your post twice before I could really appreciate the poems. I was reminded one should never rush when reading poetry. 🙂
They’re all beautiful poems, thank you for sharing.
Glad to know that you liked that poem, Delia. Each passage in it is subtly different and so beautiful, isn’t it? I agree with you – we should never rush when reading poetry. I am looking forward to reading this collection again soon – more slowly this time.
I don`t know Mary Oliver, but I especially liked “If I wanted a boat”. Thank you for introducing her me! And, of course, have a lovely Christmas time and a happy new year!
Glad to know that you liked the poem ‘If I Wanted a Boat’, June. It is one of my favourite poems from the book. Hope you get to read this collection and other poems of Mary Oliver. She is such a wonderful poet.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!
Wonderful post, Vishy. I love her poems. I have to get this collection as well. I’ve started to translate some into German (she’s not been translated). I love the one about the stones the most.
Thanks Caroline. Glad to know that you like Mary Oliver’s poems. Hope you get to read this collection and like it. I will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. That poem on the stones is so beautiful, isn’t it? So nice to know that you have started translating her poems into German. It must be such a wonderful, interesting and challenging experience.
[…] Blue Horses by Mary Oliver – Mary Oliver’s new collection. Each poem is beautiful and different and the book refuses to let you go till the end. A must read for Oliver fans. […]