A Very Mary Variation
Today I’m celebrating that feeling of fall with a mashed potato poem taken from the lines of some of Mary Oliver’s other poems
The Lust of the Season
in the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness
the crows puff their feathers and cry
the blue of the sky falls over me
and the moon rises so beautiful it makes me shudder
the trees stir in their leaves
the goldenrod are all wearing their golden shirts,
the shawl of wind coming
the reckless blossoms of weeds
the cranberry bogs
the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment
the morning air, the possibilities
the lust of the season
have you ever been so happy in your life?
These lines were borrowed, in sequence, from the following poems:
“Some Questions You Might Ask”
“Entering the Kingdom”
“A Meeting”
“The Sweetness of Dogs”
“When I Am Among the Trees”
“Goldenrod, Late Fall”
“On thy Wondrous Works I Will Meditate”
“The Kitten”
“The Truro Bear”
“In Blackwater Woods”
“Three Poems
For James Wright”
“Spring”
“Goldfinches”
Common Threads 