Eco-Poetry - Mary Oliver

Eco-poetry is a powerful and essential form of poetic expression. It serves as a vehicle for advocacy and reflection, inviting readers to reconsider how we perceive, interact with, and ultimately care for the natural world/life we co-exist with. In doing so, eco-poetry challenges us to confront pressing ecological issues and fosters a deeper awareness of our role in protecting the planet. 

Mary Oliver is a beautiful writer and keen observer of the natural world. I will never forget the first time I read her work. As I picked up one of her collections, flipping through the pages, I quickly found myself resonating with her as I went from one poem to the next. I remember feeling truly heard—thinking “yes!” over and over, as if her words were speaking directly to something deep within me. A feeling of complete satisfaction, as if she had perfectly captured something I had always known but couldn’t quite express myself. That’s exactly the kind of response I could ever hope to evoke in my readers. 

Whether it’s through the way she captures the warm colors that come from the evening light, documenting the graceful dance of leaves in the breeze, or tracing the quiet journey of an animal through its habitat, Oliver’s ability to make the ordinary seem extraordinary is something I deeply admire. She truly grounds us, reminding us that we are not alone in this world. If you are not already overwhelmingly aware of your surroundings, Oliver’s imagery will certainly remind you.

If I had the privilege to meet and speak with Mary Oliver, I’d like to believe we would share a thing or two...maybe even talk for hours. What I take away most from her poetry is her sense of awe toward the natural world—a wonder that seems endless, yet intertwined with a deep sense of gratitude and, perhaps at times, great anxiety...this is something I too often feel (see my poem below) when I’m immersed in the beauty of nature. It is a feeling where I am constantly trying to capture and honor it in words, but knowing that no matter how much I write, I can never truly do it justice.

Unspoken Obligations

Lily Trimmer

I observe the birds outside my window and wonder

if they notice the way the clouds move or

how the morning light differs from the day before

 

a true privilege it is to merely exist in a moment,

to acknowledge the unsolicited beauty

that has the power to move us deeply

 

to be still and experience the raw emotions

emanating from our seven senses

brings me both gratitude and great anxiety

 

constantly weighed down by a feeling that I must

make something            

something of this

to properly express my appreciation—

 

surely, the birds would think this way too

if they could think like us at all—

what a lovely thought!

What Gorgeous Thing 

by Mary Oliver

I do not know what gorgeous thing
      the bluebird keeps saying,
his voice easing out of his throat,
      beak, body into the pink air
of the early morning. I like it
      whatever it is. Sometimes
it seems the only thing in the world
      that is without dark thoughts.
Sometimes it seems the only thing
      in the world that is without
questions that can’t and probably
      never will be answered, the
only thing that is entirely content
      with the pink, then clear white
morning and, gratefully, says so.

In Oliver’s What Gorgeous Thing, the bluebird serves as a counterpoint to this anxious striving. The bird’s song, unburdened by dark thoughts or unanswerable questions, embodies a kind of pure, untroubled presence. There’s no need for the bird to question or make sense of its beauty—it simply is content in the moment. Quietly existing. Oliver’s poem reveals the possibility of simply being with beauty, without the pressure to do something with it, to explain it or transform it into something else. Oliver invites us to let go of our compulsive need to capture and instead, appreciate.

In reading her work, I am reminded that there’s power in simply existing alongside nature, without the need for constant interpretation. This balance between expression and surrender is something I continue to explore in my own writing—learning to appreciate the moment without the constant pull to translate it.