Blue Horses: Poems

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.

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.

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

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 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.

Loved the book! Loved the poems! Love Mary!

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.

Her cadence and subject matter weren't what I expected from the title... But the poems were simple and elegant. It was kind of short for a publication. 20 poems maybe...didn't count them though. I'll read them again. They may grow on me.

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

Nothing to dislike. I return to these when I need peace.

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

great to relax to.

What is not to love about Mary Oliver's poetry?