Common Threads

 A Very Mary Variation 

A double Golden Shovel poem featuring two lines from Mary Oliver’s  “The Orchard” – beginning “I have dreamed of accomplishment. I have fed ambition,” and ending “and the ripeness of the apple is its downfall.” Turn small devices sideways to read the vertical beginning and ending lines.

Travel Fever

I seek the rush of adventure and

have journeyed to the

dreamed-of destinations, tasted the ripeness

of culture, breathed the passport ink of

accomplishment, even put the 

“I” in the Big Apple –

have bitten my way to its core, as travel fever is

fed by each step along the map of its

ambition to explore….anchors: the crushing downfall

A Very Mary Oliver Double Golden Shovel

With lines from “From the Book of Time” beginning 

“I rose this morning early as usual and went to my desk,” and ending “and I am thinking maybe just looking and listening is the real work.” This is my debut golden shovel, and small-screen devices must be turned sideways to see the vertical lines formatted correctly. 

The Real Work: Looking and Listening

I begin each day with pen in hand and

rose to set the tone today (I, 

this day and every day, am

morning-ready to begin the journey thinking

early – when the mind is sharpest – maybe

as a blessing, perhaps as a curse – just

usual patterns of noticing, looking, 

and pondering, considering words) and

went for coffee first, now sit listening

to the wisdom of Mary, who is

my soul poet, reminding me that the

desk at the office is not life’s real

                                                    work.

 

A Very Mary Variation

A Golden Shovel poem from Mary Oliver’s poem “Six Recognitions of the Lord” – “My God, mercy is in your hands, pour me a little”

Heartsick

My Vogel State Park dog-friendly cabin is cancelled

God-willing I’ll get the refund – all but $11.20 – but

mercy is needed here, Lord – my husband 

is always too entrenched in work and politics

in order to make time on breaks – 

your typical teacher letdown when your

hands are full and a trip is needed – to

pour some enjoyment into life, relax with some

me time – – some us time – – but even with 

a two month range he wouldn’t commit; it’s more than a

little disappointing…..I was counting the days…..

 

A Very Mary Variation 

A Golden Shovel poem using a line from Mary Oliver’s “The World I Live In” – “only if there are angels in your head will you ever possibly see one”

Regret

only one child matters 

if death is imminent and

there is no other voice allowed? 

are you honoring her others? 

angels appear as demons and vice-versa

in the surreal fog of illness, and

your chosen one is no angel whose

head is not thinking with heart, who

will not allow a taste of sugar or drugged slumber;

you perpetuate her suffering – have you 

ever stopped and considered that quite 

possibly her hell is not about your getting to 

see fleeting glimpses of her former self from a cage of 

                   misery?

one cancerous regret can later overtake 

 

 

A Very Mary Variation

A Golden Shovel poem taken from a line of “Flare” – 

“the voice of the child crying out of the mouth of the grown woman is a misery and a disappointment” where each word in this line starts a new line in an expanded poem inspired by this original line

Final Hours of a Family

The one who would silence the 

voice of all others in the care decisions 

of a loved one is 

the very reason her own 

child resents his mother for the endless 

crying she allows his grandmother and seeks his way 

out from under her overbearing control 

of his life and new marriage as 

the end of an era draws near, the 

mouth of a grandmother now mute

of a grandfather now muted 

the family once held strong now shattered by a 

grown spoiled child who is anything but the 

woman her mother would be proud of 

is anything but a family leader seeking unity – is 

a destroyer-  a wrecking ball who allows her mother’s misery day after day after day 

and refuses comfort measures for 

a loving mother who always comforted her;  what a disappointment and a shameful ironic twist of an ending

 A Very Mary Variation 

A Golden Shovel poem taken from a line of “At the River Clarion” by Mary Oliver – I pray for the desperate world. 

A World Gone Wrong

I tremble at the revelations unfolding,

pray for a nation in turmoil- 

for a world in peril as 

the nations, their races, their churches, their own families – 

desperate for healing, suffer on in a 

world gone wrong

   

A Very Mary Oliver Variation

Golden Shovel poem taken from a line of  “To Begin With, The Sweet Grass” –  You have a life- just imagine that!

Smile 

you need a smile to

have a chance to make

a new friend, to enjoy

life and all its joys- 

just sharing that sparkle of acceptance:

imagine the possibilities 

that can bloom! 

 

A Very Mary Oliver Variation

A Golden Shovel poem from “This Morning” line: their eyes haven’t yet opened, they know nothing about the sky that’s waiting

their hatred festers

eyes squinting at all who 

haven’t silver spoons

yet picked cotton, paved roads

opened new realms for all-

they believe they are supreme who

know it all yet 

nothing of the sacrifice, nothing

about the blood, sweat, tears, nothing about

the faces not in their own mirrors

sky gazing faces overlooking their own wake of destruction:

that’s the toxic mindset

waiting to poison future generations

 

A Mary Oliver Fibonacci Sequence Poem taken from borrowed lines 

Her Death 

know

then

to ask

when death comes

the prayers that are made

the way plovers cry goodbye

fortify me, take away my hunger for answers

Borrowed lines taken from these poems, in order:

“The Egret”

“The Egret”

“Snow Geese”

“When Death Comes”

“Mindful”

“We Should Be Well Prepared”

“Sometimes”