An early Christmas treat for me! This is the collection for which #MaryOliver received the Pulitzer Prize, although I don’t know how all of her collections haven’t. But I’m partial :-) It opens, appropriately enough for me, with a poem called August, a poem about a foundational state of happiness in the face of brambles, ripped arms, and dark creeks. My intention was to cram these poems into my mouth and my body one poem and one day at a time, feeling the words shape my “happy tongue”, but maybe it’s even better to be completely gluttonous and inhale them all in front of the fireplace tonight, on a traditional evening of ceremony, reverence, and meditative quietness, becoming word-stoned and poetry-blissed. I can’t imagine a better way to enjoy “this thick paw of my life”. #maryoliverpoetry #poetry #AmericanPrimitive #poemoftheday #xmaseve #happiness https://www.instagram.com/p/B6dk-lDHo_N/?igshid=95be2760fy6n