Remembering Mary Oliver (1935-2019)
We are so sad that a great friend of ours has passed away. Beloved poet Mary Oliver passed away today at her home in Florida at the age of 83 after battling lymphoma.
Best-selling poet Mary Oliver (books by this author) was born in Maple Heights, Ohio (1935). As a child, she spent most of her time outside, wandering around the woods, reading and writing poems.
Oliver went to college in the ’50s at Ohio State University and Vassar, but dropped out. She made a pilgrimage to visit Edna St. Vincent Millay’s 800-acre estate in Austerlitz, New York. The poet had been dead for several years, but Millay’s sister Norma lived there along with her husband. Mary Oliver and Norma hit it off, and Oliver lived there for years, helping out on the estate, keeping Norma company, and working on her own writing. In 1958, a woman named Molly Malone Cook came to visit Norma while Oliver was there, and the two fell in love. A few years later, they moved together to Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Oliver said: “I was very careful never to take an interesting job. Not an interesting one. I took lots of jobs. But if you have an interesting job you get interested in it. I also began in those years to keep early hours. [...] If anybody has a job and starts at 9, there’s no reason why they can’t get up at 4:30 or 5 and write for a couple of hours, and give their employers their second-best effort of the day — which is what I did.”
She published five books of poetry, and still almost no one had heard of her. She doesn’t remember ever having given a reading before 1984, which is the year that she was doing dishes one evening when the phone rang and it was someone calling to tell her that her most recent book, American Primitive (1983), had won the Pulitzer Prize. Suddenly, she was famous. She didn’t really like the fame — she didn’t give many interviews, didn’t want to be in the news. She once wrote in an introduction to a poetry collection, “I have felt all my life that I was wise, and tasteful, too, to speak very little about myself — to deflect the curiosity in the personal self that descends upon writers, especially in this country and at this time, from both casual and avid readers.”
When editors called their house for Oliver, Cook would answer, announce that she was going to get Oliver, fake footsteps, and then get back on the phone and pretend to be the poet — all so that Oliver didn’t have to talk on the phone to strangers, something she did not enjoy. Cook was a photographer, and she was also Oliver’s literary agent. They stayed together for more than 40 years, until Cook’s death in 2005.
Oliver said: “I’ve always wanted to write poems and nothing else. There were times over the years when life was not easy, but if you’re working a few hours a day and you’ve got a good book to read, and you can go outside to the beach and dig for clams, you’re okay.”
Oliver’s books of poems include No Voyage (1963), The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems (1972), Twelve Moons (1978), The Leaf and the Cloud (2000), Owls and Other Fantasies (2003), Red Bird (2008), Dog Songs (2013), and Velocity (2015). Her most recent collection, Devotions, was released in Oct 2017.
Listen to poems from our archives >>>
More poems from the archives >>>
Read our poet interview >>>
Read NPR's obituary >>>
Contacting a recovery agent would probably be more of a lame joke to me than an advice a couple of months back before I made a slip and lost $970,600 in the sad process unfortunately. All options came down to contacting a recovery agent and I did. I got details about Mr. JAMES MCKAY WIZARD RECOVERY from my long hours of surfing the web. I saw a post about him on reddit and I decided to give it a shot. Since I do not have any other option and nothing more to loose at this point. I immediately contacted him and that’s the best decision I’ve made. I would have lost all my retirement benefits to these fraudsters. He got the money back swiftly, it was barely a challenge to him. His work is up to par and I recommend him, I have introduced a couple of my other friends to him too. you can contact him on jamesmckaywizard at gmail dot com or WhatsApp +3165.7.4.4.6.2.4.8. you can do well to thank me later
I deposited 10.785 euros to a crpto currency investment firm on instagram, which later turned to 98,908.00 euros including my pay out bonus, there was an impressive improvement in few days, 2 months later I had a car accident and needed money to pay my insurance access, Suddenly I was sent from Pillar to post, i tried reaching out to the company which i had made an investment with to witdraw from my profit so as to pay off my debts, they cut the live chats and i got harassed from 1 to the other, until they told me I will forever be poor, then i realized that i was being scammed. I just wanted my money back! I was advised by a friend to seek for help from a recovery management to assist me recover my invested funds, God so kind i was able to reach out to a recovery guru by name Jamesmckaywizard. i was able to recover my funds with the help of Mr JAMES an expert on crypto/forex and bitcoin recovery, I feel obligated to recommend him and his team, their recovery strategies, and for working relentlessly to help recover my funds. feel free to reach out to him via his email address: jamesmckaywizard at gmail dot com or what’sapp +316… 57446,,, 248., and will guide you on how to recover your invested capital, i advise everyone to be careful with this heartless stealing people.
I came in hand with greatness today, after mysteriously losing control of my Binance wallet and my trading account to LCGCOIN, I did everything they asked me but truth be told, this LCGCOIN crypto trading platform is just a bunch of rippers and clowns who prey on us due to our lack of exposure about cryptocurrency and how to properly earn from it. I saw no end to their demands for them to allow me access to my Binance wallet and trading account with them as well. I hired a private detective in my city, Oklahoma and he confirmed to me they were crooks but he couldn’t do much so he introduced me to Cyber Genie Hack Pro Crypto Wealth Recovery Services. I consulted them, and they swiftly got into work. I am truly impressed with the outcome of their recovery services. Having back access to my money was all I wanted. Every dollar I ever deposited into my LCGCOIN trading account was recovered. Everything is in order and my security is tight to avoid further cyber attacks. Grateful to everyone that made the recovery a success at Mail: jamesmckaywizard at gmail dot com or WhatsApp: +3165// 7446// 248.. File a case with james mc kay wizard if you are a victim of Binary and Cryptocurrency trading fraud.
Some statements people make may appear unbelievable, yet they reflect their truth due to their personal experiences. I’m a truck driver and I enjoy playing the lottery, but it’s been 8 years without winning anything significant. I became upset over this and chose to seek help online from anyone skilled in using spells to win the lottery since my grandma had faith in spells and a story about Lord Meduza spells drew my interest. I obtained his contact information, and we discussed all aspects of how he could assist me. In less than 72 hours, Lord Meduza provided me with the lottery numbers I required after he completed the spell for me. I purchased my ticket online, followed the guidance of Lord Meduza, and now my life is fortunate because I won a $42.5 million Jackpot in the lottery I participated in. I’m thankful to Lord Meduza because he truly keeps his promises.
Email: Lordmeduzatemple@hotmail.com OR WhatsApp: +1 (807) 907-2687.
I’m grateful Jefferson Lucas for your wonderful masterclass strategy which has help me earn at least $8,000 weekly using his masterclass strategy and has also helped me recover all my lost money in binary options trading, i recommend his help to each traders whose point is to succeed and make good profits in binary options and also for those who wants to get back all their lost money and for those who are new in trading or have any issues in trading’s, you can contact him on: Email: Jeffersonlucas095@gmail.com