Tag Archives: Mary Oliver

Battered by a Raging Stormy

By Robin Bates | Published: March 28, 2018

Stormy Daniels’s power over Donald Trump brings to mind various literary storms, such as Lear’s and those described by Mary Oliver and H.D.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Lightning", "Storm", Donald Trump, H.D., King Lear, Stormy Daniels, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Trump Drama as Sherlock Mystery

By Robin Bates | Published: February 5, 2018

Trump and the Russian investigation resemble the Sherlock Holmes story “The Five Pips.” But is Trump the secret society doing the killing or the panicked uncle marked out for slaughter?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Arthur Conan Doyle, Donald Trump, Five Orange Pips, Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, Russia investigation, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Comments closed

Nature Lit Has Healed for Centuries

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2017

For years my Intro to Lit class has had a nature theme.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bacchae, Barbara Kingsolver, climate change, environmental issues, Euripides, Flight Behavior, John Keats, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lord Byron, Lucille Clifton, Margaret Atwood, Midsummer Night's Dream, nature poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wendell Berry, William Blake, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Year of the Flood | Comments closed

Fall, Season for Beautiful Depression

By Robin Bates | Published: November 15, 2017

Those suffering from depression will find a kindred spirit in this gorgeous St. Vincent Millay poem about autumn.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Blue Heron", "To Autumn", Autumn, bi-polar illness, Depression, Edna St. Vincent Millay, John Keats, Seasons | Comments closed

Bone-Crushing Prince of Dark Days

By Robin Bates | Published: November 2, 2017

Trump regards Special Counsel Robert Mueller as the crows view the owl in Mary Oliver’s “In the Pine Woods: Crows and Owl.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "In the Pine Woods Crows and Owl", Donald Trump, Robert Mueller, Russian election intervention, Trump investigation | Comments closed

Clean Rooms, Despair of the Mind

By Robin Bates | Published: August 30, 2017

Mary Oliver’s “University Hospital, Boston” captures my experience of having a friend in a hospital. Oliver understands the various ironies involved.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "University Hospital Boston", death and dying, sickness | Comments closed

The Fires and the Black River of Loss

By Robin Bates | Published: May 18, 2017

We recently held a memorial service for my dear friend and colleague Kate Chandler. I read from some of Kate’s eloquent nature writings and concluded with a Mary Oliver poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "In Blackwater Woods", death and dying, Kate Chandler | Comments closed

Absent from This World, Alive in Another

By Robin Bates | Published: April 16, 2017

As is traditional with this blog, we share a Mary Oliver poem about a magical encounter with a deer–which recalls Mary Magdalene’s magical encounter with Jesus in the garden.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Picking Blueberries, Easter, Mary Magdalene, touching the divine | Comments closed

Ollie the Bobcat, Whirlwind of Light

By Robin Bates | Published: February 2, 2017

Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” helps explain why Ollie, the bobcat who escaped from the National Zoo, returned on her own. Her time in the spotlight gives me an excuse to share a pulsating bobcat poem by Mary Oliver.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Bobcat", escaped animals, Life of Pi, National Zoo, Ollie the Bobcat, Yann Martel, zoos | Comments closed