All of Mary Oliver's Poems Are My Favorites
The poem: “Long Afternoon at Little Sister Pond” was, no doubt written about one of Cape Cod’s many “kettle ponds.” Those sandy bottomed, clear and crystalline, round bodies of freshwater bordered by richly dark evergreens. On an early spring afternoon, I am swimming the circumference; a rufous-sided towhee following along—flying and singing “drink your teeeeeaaa.” Little fishes nibbling at my toes.
The young black snake that hides its head under a leaf in “Black Snake” reminds me of Leo Coyote, my beautiful double merle border collie whose eyesight and hearing are both compromised because of the double dose of the merle gene. Leo thinks he is hiding under the bed even though his pink-and-black speckled nose and his very long and very bushy white tail are in plain sight. Just like the little black snake whose whole long body is visible.
So many of Mary Oliver’s poems are inspired by the Cape landscape—its wildlife and dunes—and her dogs, her loves and her joys, her grief and her sorrows.
Her poetry is prayer; And praise. Her words are not just words: They are whole worlds—universes filled with light and hope.
“The Summer Day” reminds us that every life is valuable and every moment of life precious. It is poem number 133 of the 180 poems by U.S. poet-laureates catalogued at the Library of Congress. By the way, poem number 001 is Billy Collins’s poem, “Introduction to Poetry.”
The Library of Congress website of poet laureates is: www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems. (Don’t forget the dashes - - and forward-slashes./ )
You can find Mary Oliver’s poems at the poetryfoundation.org. Or in her >30 books of collected poems with titles like: “American Primitive”; ”The Truro Bear”; ”Dog Songs”; ”House of Light”; ”Owls and Other Fantasies”; ”What Do We Know”; ”Why I Wake Early.”
Mary Oliver’s official website is: https://mary oliver.com
