I Happened To Be Praying

It was beautiful today, hiking Borderland State Park.  I was dressed in layers, and hand and toe warmers.  None of it was needed.  The temperature was in the 40's and the sun was strong.  Naturally,  we couldn't go out on the ice, but walking the trails was nice.  We followed deer tracks, and probably dog tracks, but we pretended they were fox's.

The air was so crisp, clean, and clear.  You just had to pause and pray.

I Happened To Be Standing by Mary Oliver

I don't know where prayers go,
     or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep
     half-asleep in the sun?
Does the opossum pray as it

The Trail Hikers

     crosses the street?
The sunflowers?  The old black oak
     growing older every year?
I know I can walk through the world,
     along the shore or under the trees,
with my mind filled with things
     of little importance, in full
self-attendance.  A condition I can't really
     call being alive.
Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,
     or does it matter?
The sunflowers blaze, maybe that's their way.
Maybe the cats are sound asleep.  Maybe not.

This is part of a poem in Mary Oliver's new book, A Thousand Mornings.  The rest of the poem is on page 3-4.  But prayer is all this and more.  It's a spiritual mystery, and no God is any good without mystery.  If you understood Him and His ways, you wouldn't be you.  You'd be God.

Poetry Night

In Book Club we reviewed Mary Oliver's Evidence. We all agreed that this book of poetry is Oliver's best. Of course, we said that the last time. Mary Oliver is our favorite poetess.

We all took turns reading our favorite poems out of the book. We had a special treat, in that the long lost Linda showed up. She's the one who introduced Oliver to us, so it was fitting that she came, tonight. She's been through a lot: new job, working 12 to 14 hours a day, and shingles! ugh!

My favorite phrase is in the "Snowy Egret." The poet describes how the egret has come for forty years to her house. "Don't think he is a casual part of my life."

I'm saving that phrase to tell to someone who needs it. Isn't it beautiful?

How about: "Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed."

Her poetry is so simple and direct. People who say they don't understand poetry would do well to begin with Mary Oliver. We decided to go visit her in P-town. We made plans for May. We'll take the ferry from Boston to Provincetown. We'll visit her book store and give her a telephone call and see if she's up for visitors. Probably not, but that particular book store has her personally autographed books. And P-town is always interesting and fun. It'll be something to look forward to.

Lunch Time Walk

During my hour lunch time, I've been walking. Sometimes I walk in the woods. Since it is Fall, the scenery can be breath-taking. The leaf-peeping season is past, but the scenery can still be beautiful.

The picture on the lower right is a beaver hut. Seeing a beaver in this area is not unusual because I'm walking around Beaver Pond.

Another inhabitant of the marshes is the bird in the top picture. I know you can't make it out. That's the point. God has given her the camouflage. Maybe if you really look close in the middle of the picture--slightly above the center, you'll see a type of heron, called a bittern. She has a long neck and long legs. I like to see the bitterns take off. Their legs swing as they hang down, in take off.

The entire walk reminded me of Mary Oliver's book, Why I Wake Early. This is a book showing God in everything. Here's a sample:

Look and See

This morning, at waterside, a sparrow flew
to a water rock and landed, by error, on the back
of an eider duck; lightly it fluttered off, amused.
The duck, too, was not provoked, but you might say, was
laughing.

This afternoon a gull sailing over
our house was casually scratching
its stomach of white feathers with one
pink foot as it flew.

Oh Lord, how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we only look, and see.

I too, feel like I'm looking at God's gift when I look at the mosaic wetland of ponds, marshes, fens, bogs, and wetlands. They are surrounded by woods of red maple, yellow birch, shrubs, alders, and who knows what other variety of herbaceous species. I feel ever so grateful to be alive to see this "festive gift."

Book Club

Book club was a very small group, tonight. There were only 5 of us. Which turned out fine because that made all the wine and food for us. We discussed Mary Oliver's Blue Iris. Mary Oliver is the group's favorite poet. We read some of our favorite poems. I was surprised to find out that I understood a poem better, when I heard it read.

Our hostess, Cindy had some different food: stuffed grape leaves, cucumber dishes, different dips and home made pita bread. The wine was a Chardonnay--very light. Afterwards, we had tea and desserts. The desserts were made by a former bakery chef, from Mike's in Boston. Mmmm.

Next month, it's my turn.