Mary Oliver is one who saw “thin places” in the natural world. For her, objects and animals shimmer with eternal presence. For your reflections this week, I have chosen selections from her book of short biographical essays, Upstream (New York: Penguin Press, 2016).
–Marjory Zoet Bankson
“Sometimes the desire to be lost again, as long ago, comes over me like a vapor. With growth into adulthood, responsibilities claimed me, so many heavy coats. I didn’t choose them, I don’t fault them, but it took time to reject them. Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets… Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
-Mary Oliver, Upstream