Blue Horses: Poems

The lovely poetry of Mary Oliver leads one to the inner sanctuary of stillness and wonder and gratitude, a place where life is celebrated in the sunlight and shadows of one’s every day existence. It leads one back to the joy that is our birthright.

Mary Oliver is my favorite

I really enjoyed these poems. I even got the Audible version and listened to them while I was resting. They gave me new images for trees and rocks and especially those iconic blue horses. Definitely worth the read.

I have loved, read and bought every book Mary ever wrote. Her writing has taken us through her young life to her mature years, through struggles and periods of peace and bliss and conversions and changes. She is a gift and I will never be able to thank her or the universe sufficiently. Blue Horses reflects a kind of 'becalmed' Mary Oliver. The phrases are there, but this is not a 'return' to her initial writing. Mary was once fiercely in love with life. Fiercely in love. The words are still there. The craftsmanship. But there is a roteness to it. With only small flashes of the old fire. Phrases that blew us all away; "I thought the earth remembered me" (sleeping in the forest) and "all you have to do is let the soft animal of your body love what it loves" (wild geese). And phrases like the seashells "so knocked about in the Sea's blue hands.." are gifts I can keep. I am grateful she is still writing. So I will say no more about Blue Horses than Mary seems distracted.

I love the poetry of Mary Oliver but this collection surpasses all others. In this, it is as though she comes in full view, as she addresses issues of pain and loss. The Earth is almost personified, as Mary parallels her situation with that of our beautiful planet. I am reading it slowly as each short poem is a revelation in itself. Her reflections on the boat she would choose, if she wanted a boat, are enough food for a lifetime. But then each poem brings its own surprise. I could not recommend this collection highly enough.

Mary Oliver has always been a favorite and never disappoints. She is a constant reminder of the beauty in life.

I am slowly reading this and savoring the experience, although like her other collections of poems, I will return to this again and again. Mary Oliver delivers... again. Each poem is tightly packed with so many layers of meaning, a compass of the human experiences of nature, love and loss. I wouldn't call this lyrical, yet I'd posit these poems on a sort of chronological and emotional event horizon that begins to reckon with not just the losses of in her life, but also an acknowledgement that one day her own pen will be stilled. I have found this collection to be moving, tender, keen and brilliant: all the things I expect from Mary Oliver.

Mary Oliver often comes to tea at my house. Or, her poetry does. It speaks to me as I as I sip each word like a fine blend—spicy, rich, and telling. Usually that’s what happens. Not with Oliver’s latest book, Blue Horses. I gulped it down like a puppy at a pond. It’s just what I needed, and will continue to need. These poems cry out for repeat visits, for underlining, for thinking about and going back again and again. She explains what I am looking for, what I am finding in her poetry, in the aptly named “What We Want” it is “something inexplicable made plain.” Which she does, has done, will do for me. I’ll sip, and sometimes gulp, these poems along with her previous ones, and I’ll trust that she continues to take her long walks with her notebook and pen in her pocket so that soon I’ll have more to savor. Mary Oliver is always welcome here.

A beautiful book that opens our eyes to see more beauty.

Touched by Marry's simple writing style. I can not describe what is that ,but it was a pleasure to read & feel every stanza of it

Me llegó mal el libro, doblado y maltratado

This is a fabulously moving selection of poems. Mary Oliver speaks of what it is to be human and fully experiencing life in that form. Her poems are astute, concise and personal; packed with emotion and imagery supporting the reader's understanding of life beyond and yet within the mundane. Form and spirit are both expressed and addressed and Mary does not shy away from difficult aspects of life. A wonderful work for students and seekers alike.

Blue Horses is a work of peace. I find it very refreshing and calming. It is still poetry with everything we expect, wisdom of a lady, experience, energy of language. It belongs to a category I named for myself "some poems young authors will never write" (based on a line by Cz. Milosz). The collection will never address masses but it will address reader who seek for proves of power of life and power of humanity.