As much as I wanted to highlight another poet for National Poetry Month, Mary Oliver will always be my go-to. I've read many books of poetry but none have captured me like Oliver's works. It saddens me that we will not have any new works to read of hers, but I am also so grateful to have access to her works. Every time I encounter one of her collections here at the library, I sigh a deep sigh of longing; I want to lock myself away in Mary's world and never surface. She has such a sweet and gentle way of drawing you into her world and nudging you to appreciate it's beauty. Oliver makes it so easy to be welcomed in. Reading any of her works feels like joining her inner circle.  

Considering it's finally spring, it seems fitting to share one of Oliver's poems on the subject to help us appreciate the warmth and beauty it has to offer.

"Late Spring"

Finally the world is beginning

to change, its fevers mounting,

its leaves unfolding.

And the mockingbirds find

ample reason and breath to fashion

new songs.  They do. You can

count on it.

As for lovers, they are discovering

new ways to love.  Listen, their windows are open.

You can hear them laughing.

Without spring who knows what would happen.

A lot of nothing, I suppose.

The leaves are all in motion now

the way a young boy rows and rows

in his wooden boat, just to get anywhere.

Late, late, but now lovely and lovelier.

And the two of us, together- a part of it.