I can be stubborn this way – a friend sent me the link for the podcast episodes of On Being by Krista Tippet for my 50th birthday. I thought it’s interesting, but just a fad and ignored it. Then two years later my daughter sent me the same link and once again I ignored it, thinking that I shall get to it sometime…

Then the poet Mary Oliver died on 17 January 2019 at age 83. And the rare interview with her was conducted by Krista Tippet in 2015. Many things struck me deeply while listening to the podcast, confronting my arrogant dismissal. This poem of hers, Wild Geese resonated with me:

“Wild Geese” — “You do not have to be good. / You do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. / You only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves. / Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. / Meanwhile the world goes on. / Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain / are moving across the landscapes, / over the prairies and the deep trees, / the mountains and the rivers. / Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, / are heading home again. / Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, / the world offers itself to your imagination, / calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — / over and over announcing your place / in the family of things.”

The following is from the On Being website on Mary Oliver:

“Mary Oliver was one of our greatest and most beloved poets. She is often quoted by people across ages and backgrounds — and it’s fitting, since she described poetry as a sacred community ritual. “When you write a poem, you write it for anybody and everybody,” she said. Mary died on January 17, 2019, at the age of 83. She was a prolific and decorated poet, whose honors included the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In this 2015 conversation — one of the rare interviews she granted during her lifetime — she discussed the wisdom of the world, the salvation of poetry, and the life behind her writing.”

And about On Being:

“The On Being Project is an independent non-profit public life and media initiative. We pursue deep thinking and social courage, moral imagination and joy, to renew inner life, outer life, and life together.”

So please, confront your preconceptions and listen to the podcast: https://onbeing.org/programs/mary-oliver-listening-to-the-world-jan2019/