Tag Archives: Mary Oliver

A Mary Oliver Poem for Lent

By Robin Bates | Published: March 8, 2025

Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” works as a Lenten poem but departs from medieval notions of what Lent involves.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 8, 2025

Mary Oliver makes a Eucharistic feast out of a fish she has caught, bringing to mind Jesus’s injunction to become “a fisher of people.”

By Robin Bates | Published: January 18, 2025

Oliver and Whyte have poems about running toward fire, an unsettling metaphor during this fire season but thematically sound.

By Robin Bates | Published: January 6, 2025

In which I pull on Kenyon, Dylan Thomas, Conrad, Chandler, Lawrence and others in an attempt to penetrate the mysteries of dying.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 19, 2024

A Mary Oliver owl poem to celebrate the winter solstice.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Snowy Night", owls | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: August 18, 2024

A Loren Eiseley passage on seeing his blood put me in mind of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where Gawain has a similar revelation.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 8, 2024

Mary Oliver’s tells us to savor joy, which is what many are doing with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

By Robin Bates | Published: June 22, 2024

A Mary Oliver poem about Jesus calming the storm asks which is more frightening, the storm or Jesus?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Maybe", Jesus calming the storm | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: June 19, 2024

To celebrate the first day of summer, here are two lovely summer poems, one by Emily Bronte, one by Mary Oliver.