Saturday, September 10, 2016

Celebrate This Week: A Poet's Birthday and Tree Pics

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres. 
                                                         When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.
Discover. Play. Build.
A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember.

Today is Mary Oliver's birthday.
The Writer's Almanac featured a few words about her life and philosophy.
And then Tara shared a post from
 Brain Pickings on what attention really means
(according to Mary Oliver),
and then I lost myself in Mary Oliver's poems
for far longer than I should have on a busy Saturday.

And I found this quote of hers that I love at Goodreads:
“Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold,
ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.”

On the eve of the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11th, I can't help but think of the poems that serve as "..fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost..." for all who suffer.   I celebrate the poets I've met and the poems they send out into the world as a "life-cherishing force."  I celebrate my Poetry Friday friends who bring poems into my life each week.

And I celebrate trees.
I snapped this pic on our Labor Day hike.
And this pic was captured this afternoon
with the magnificent blue sky and a touch of fall. 
And so I'll close this celebration post with twelve 
wise words from the birthday girl, Mary Oliver:
"Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it."
("Sometimes", § 4)

And gratitude to Ruth who created this space
for us to show up and share our weekly noticings,
astonishments, and celebrations.  

6 comments:

  1. Oliver's words are so wise...thank you for sharing them today, Ramona.

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  2. I enjoyed the images you shared and the words are quite thoughtful.

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  3. I just saw that Mary Oliver has a new book coming soon, FYI! Thank you for all these words, Ramona. They are precious. That final quote is one I used to have on my header. I do love it! You often make me wish we lived in the same place. I am a lover of trees too. I think we might make good neighbors! Happy Sunday!

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    Replies
    1. It would be fun to be neighbors, wouldn't it? Maybe we can settle with meeting somewhere for a fun getaway or book related extravaganza or educational conference.

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  4. "Pay attention, Be astonished, Tell about it." This is the wonderful thing about being a writer!

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  5. Loving these words, Ramona:
    "Instructions for living a life.
    Pay attention.
    Be astonished.
    Tell about it."
    And so another week closes and new celebrations are ready to start.

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