Comments on: There’s Something About Mary

By: Rali

Rali — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:32:01 +0000

Ok I love Mary Oliver too. But I wouldn’t call it my gospel- just an affirmation for my soul. And I try not to use her in worship as often as I us other sacred texts, and absolutely not more than twice a year.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:51:11 +0000

I work in a UU church, but I don’t belong to any denomination. I love Mary Oliver’s poetry because of the way she ties the mundane to the spiritual. However, because she *is* so accessible, sometimes we liturgists turn to her works without thinking of other contemporary poets whose poetry shares the same traits, but whose literary style might be more dense or difficult to parse. Personally, I love a good poem to “chew on,” but that isn’t the point when selecting readings to frame a sermon or theme. I find David Whyte’s poetry intelligent, sensitive, mystical, spiritual, and sadly underused.

By: Wormwood's Doxy

Wormwood's Doxy — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:49:00 +0000

I love Mary Oliver because her poems “West Wind #2,” “Wild Geese,” and “The Journey” saved my life–literally.

They gave me the strength and courage to do some hard things–basically to get out of a life that was killing me, and into one that is full of love and joy. Oliver will always hold a special place in my heart for that.

If you want some other poetic resources, I would recommend Mark Jarman’s Questions for Ecclesiastes (especially the “Unholy Sonnets”). I also really like Berry, Levertov, and Nye—along with Emily Dickinson, Jack Gilbert, and e.e. cummings.

Since my best friend is a UU, I already know you guys do a lot of Rumi…

Cheers,
Doxy

By: bluish seminarian

bluish seminarian — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:35:43 +0000

I find it interesting that we shy away from repeated uses of the same poetry/poet, rather than embrace them in liturgical familiarity. I’ve found myself doing this with Mary Oliver, thinking “Oh, she’s been done in UU worship so much, let’s find something new.” Then I have to question my motives - a pointless quest for “originality”, or a genuine need for a fresh perspective?

That said, I think “love what is mortal, and when the time comes, let it go” is a near-perfect theological statement about life in the face of death.

By: CFT

CFT — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:49:45 +0000

I like Mary Oliver, but I do think she is overused. Her poems are lovely, and a few of them are BAM! powerful, but not all of them are. Some are just pretty scenes of nature, sort of in the H.D. Imagist style. Lovely but not life-changing–for me. In planning worship I avoid using her poems as readings. I still quote her in sermons every so often but I really do shy away from her at this point, and try to bring in other voices.

By: KJR

KJR — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:12:42 +0000

I seem to be out of the UU mainstream in this and many other ways. I don’t dislike Oliver but she doesn’t speak to me and I was kind of bored at her GA lecture. I like poetry a lot and often use it in meditation, but have favorite poems more than favorite poets.

Other ways I am a bad UU: I don’t drink coffee, I don’t think “to question is the answer”, and if I never sing “Spirit of Life” again I would be quite elated.

By: marcia

marcia — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:13:10 +0000

All I know is that when people ask me if we read from the bible during worship services, i say “Yes, but not as often as we read mary oliver.”

i’m also very fond of Naomi Shihab Nye.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:10:31 +0000

Mary Oliver is OK, but not one of my favorite contemporary poets. We use her occasionally in worship, but only the bits of her poems that are found in the Singing the Living Tradition hymnal. I don’t find her especially worshipful, nor do I find her religious values consonant with what I perceive as the core of Unitarian Universalism (she strikes me as a bit of a quietist). And when you read her poems aloud, I find they don’t really sing — they’re a little flat.

You didn’t ask, but here are some living poets whom I find fit in well with our worship services: Denise Levertov — stunningly beautiful images, lovely to read aloud, profoundly religious. Jimmy Santiago Baca — you have to pick and choose, but sections out of his longer poems can be exquisite as readings. Margaret Atwood has some great poems on death. Derek Walcott’s poems are musical to read aloud, and deeply thoughtful. Wendell Berry is pretty good when doing ecotheology in worship. I once used part of one of Donald Hall’s Red Sox poems in a worship service on baseball, because here in Massachusetts baseball is religion. I try to read some of the poetry journals, and sometimes find a good poem by a new or minor poet. And Grace Paley would have been on this list, except she died recently — I’m still grieving.

I like all these poets better than Mary Oliver for one or more of the following reasons: more profound thought; religious values closer to our church’s; more musical when read aloud; more likely to provide a powerful worship experience. Come to think of it, with these and all the other great living poets out there, and then all the dead poets whom I love, I guess I’m unlikely to use Mary Oliver’s poetry much.

As always, your mileage may vary….

By: Tracie the Red

Tracie the Red — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:17:53 +0000

Oh my. I think I’m the only one who prefers May Sarton! LOL!

By: Judy Welles

Judy Welles — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:39:40 +0000

I use Mary Oliver a LOT. This Sunday, for example, in a service about “Ambiguous Loss,” (the smaller losses that often go unacknowledged but still cause us grief, like the death of a pet or “losing” one’s partner to Alzheimers) I am using as one reading Oliver’s poem “In Blackwater Woods” (To live in this world, you must be able to do three things… and when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.)

I love the simplicity of her poetry; I respect the art of saying something very rich and nuanced with just a very few words. She is a MASTER at that.

And she loves life so much. And she is so grateful. She takes great pleasure in simple things, notices things to be grateful for that most of us would miss.

To put it simply: she knocks my socks off.