Mary Oliver & Happy Birthday to Rainer Maria Rilke

A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver is an excellent tool for poets, young and old, new and experienced. I flip through it every now and then to remind myself of some of the basic techniques and fundamental principles of writing and reading poetry. Mary Oliver is also an excellent poet, as I am continuing to learn, and this one I found is a wonderful probing into the nature of the self. However, the investigation bears no pretension, as Oliver does not attempt to come up with any answers. She allows her questions to stand on their own, and she does this simply and beautifully. Enjoy!

Some Questions You Might Ask

Is the soul solid, like iron?
Or is it tender and breakable, like
the wings of a moth in the beak of an owl?
Who has it, and who doesn't?
I keep looking around me.
The face of the moose is as sad
as the face of Jesus.
The swan opens her white wings slowly.
In the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness.
One question leads to another.
Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg?
Like the eye of a hummingbird?
Does it have one lung, like the snake and the scallop?
Why should I have it, and not the anteater
who loves her children?
Why should I have it, and not the camel?
Come to think of it, what about maple trees?
What about the blue iris?
What about all the little stones, sitting alone in the moonlight?
What about roses, and lemons, and their shining leaves?

What about the grass?

And today, I'm going to post another poem. It's December 4th, Rainer Maria Rilke's 134th birthday - if he were still alive. Check out his profile on poets.org here.

I'm Much Too Alone in This World, Yet Not Alone

(Translated by Annemarie S. Kidder)

I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone
enough
to truly consecrate the hour.
I am much too small in this world, yet not small
enough
to be to you just object and thing,
dark and smart.
I want my free will and want it accompanying
the path which leads to action;
and want during times that beg questions,
where something is up,
to be among those in the know,
or else be alone.

I want to mirror your image to its fullest perfection,
never be blind or too old
to uphold your weighty wavering reflection.
I want to unfold.
Nowhere I wish to stay crooked, bent;
for there I would be dishonest, untrue.
I want my conscience to be
true before you;
want to describe myself like a picture I observed
for a long time, one close up,
like a new word I learned and embraced,
like the everyday jug,
like my mother's face,
like a ship that carried me along
through the deadliest storm.