poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

After reading Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin I decided that Mary Oliver must have just finished reading it or must be really familiar with it~~~ because I think this poem was influenced by it. Giovanni pretty much says "And nobody gets out of it, having to
swim through the fires to stay in
this world." Toward the beginning of the book.

What a meditation on the essence of urgency! The dogfish is another of Oliver's natural images of death that stalks all. Her white owl in "Whte Owl Flies into and Out of the Fields" gathers itself, kindly predatory, around each of us, but the dogfish literally dogs the little fish who will escape only if they stop looking "for an easier world." The message is clear: live fully in the moment. Olivers sermons have so much kindness and depth sorely lacking in the orations of organized religious leaders.