New and Selected Poems: Volume One (original 1992; edition 2005)

I liked these poems but didn't fall head over heels. Oliver is a bit too religious for my tastes, though her natural world is one I recognize and feel at home in. Her eye is keen, her voice assured. A couple of her verses will stay with me. ( )

If you like nature and poetry, you'll love Mary Oliver. She seems to be able to say what I just can't express. Balm for the soul.

I will always tag this one "currently reading". It is by my bedside and the book I pick up to read a page or two for comfort, to provoke thought, or just to relax. Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets. ( )

Mary Oliver is a national treasure. Reading her poetry quickens the pulse widens your eyesight, extends your hearing & makes you more aware of the world that surrounds you. Her nature poetry stuns with the clarity of Keats & Frost :
from "Hummingbird Pauses at the Trumpet Vine"
...the hummingbird comes
like a small green angel, to soak
his dark tongue
in happiness--
Or "The Swan "
...something comes floating--a slim
and delicate

ship, filled
with white flowers--

Mary Oliver's "New & Collected Poems won the 1992 National Book award & also the Pulitzer prize for poetry. ( )