Mary Oliver at Royce Hall

(Friend Friday returns next week!)

Andrew, my husband, surprised me with tickets to see the wonderful poet, Mary Oliver, at Royce Hall last night. We barely made it. The entire family has been down and out with the flu. But I gathered myself, knowing he’d planned this surprise for 2 months, and hoisted myself into the car.

I’m so glad I did. Mary Oliver is exquisite under any circumstances, but after two days of complete surrender and delirium, there’s something even more potent about the simplicity of her message. She speaks directly to the yearning heart. She speaks directly to the part of us that knows that every moment, there is beauty to be feasted upon. The world is remarkable, she says. Stop to breathe it in. Respond to it, she says. Let your heart feel the world.

Mary Oliver is particularly in love with her dog, Percy. She read us four poems about Percy last night. She says she’d like to make him famous. (She has a great and delightful sense of humor). Here are two poems about Percy that leave me feeling light and thankful.

Percy (Nine)

Your friend is coming I say
to Percy, and name a name

and he runs to the door, his
wide mouth in its laugh-shape,

and waves, since he has one, his tail.
Emerson, I am trying to live,

as you said we must, the examined life.
But there are days I wish

there was less in my head to examine,
not to speak of the busy heart. How

would it be to be Percy, I wonder, not
thinking, not weighing anything, just running forward.

******

I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life (Ten)

Love, love, love says Percy.
And hurry as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust.