New and Selected Poems, Volume One

Tone wise, sensual, intimate. Love it.

First, I'm not a "poetry person." I don't enjoy reading it, mainly because I can't understand most of it. But, recently, a newspaper article mentioned that Maria Shriver liked one poem so much she kept it on her desk. Out of curiosity, I read it online. It was a poem called "The Journey" by Mary Oliver.Finally, a poem made sense to me! It spoke to me.I read another of her poems online and it was the same. That's when I decided to buy my first book of poetry, "New and Selected Poems," Volume One, so I could sample poems from many of her books.Reading her poems are like taking a walk with Mary, albeit seeing through her eyes and hearing her thoughts. Her descriptions and phrases are like moment by moment photographs of her walk. The words are simple, but the images and emotions they convey, are clear -- and because of their acknowledgement, they are important and powerful, something you are glad to know.So, this is not a typical review of a poetry book. I don't know anything about the techniques or rules or what is considered classic poetry. All I can tell you is they are compelling. Each one pulls pull me in and I race through to see how it ends. Then, I go back to reread and savor the words and phrases. (Me! The non-poetry reader. I've surprised myself!)Reading Mary Oliver's biography was also important to me. It provided me with a perspective about her and her poems that only made them seem more alive -- more of her. I recommend doing this to anyone who wants to read more of her poems, as I did for the first time.

I am new to poetry, but I have been an author and a writer for over a decade. Since I am new to poetry, this book has been very helpful. I had a practice of reading aloud three poems from this book a day. What was most surprising was that after one month, I was able to craft my first poem.

The best poems say with words that which can't be said with words. I know that sounds like double-talk, but it's true. The best poems act as catalysts, creating emotions and connections in us that the words taken by themselves just don't convey. For example, veteran poet Mary Oliver's poem "Rain" (the first in her "New and Selected Poems, Volume One") opens with "All afternoon it rained, then / such power came down from the clouds / on a yellow thread, / as authoritative as God is supposed to be. / When it hit the tree, her body / opened forever." Beautiful, profound, and any attempt at explanation effectively kills the poetry.Mary Olver's poems are like that: clear imagery, simple language, common themes brought together like "power . . . on a yellow thread" that packs a wallop. How's THIS for a brightly-lit thought: "Is the soul solid, like iron? / Or is it tender and breakable, like / the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?"And this seasoned poet has a few observations about life to share with us: "You do not have to be good. / You do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. / You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."I've already ordered her "New and Selected Poems, Volume Two."

Mary is a National Treasure. Nothing I can say that hasn’t been said. She is/was a gift. Thank you so much, wonderful Mary.

This book arrived on time and in new condition--an excellent buy for a small price. I like the poems very much. Occasionally, a poem strikes me as a bit too self-conscious. But Oliver's metaphors are imaginative, and I think that all in all she is the best poetic interpreter of the positive aspects of nature that we have here in America.

Perhaps not my favorite - but very lovely nonetheless. A great present for your young female relatives - although I as well truly loved several of her poems as well. And I am a grumpy old man.

I was recently invited to contribute to a poets and artists even called Wings, Feathers, Flight. Each poet was to read a selection from their own work and another from anothe rpoet. One of the poets read Oliver's poem on wild geese. Everyone seemed to know her and it. I immediately went out and bought this volume. Here is a poet who can lay such a careful argument that a line like: "We hope for magic; mystery endures." flows naturally from its contest into the verses that follow. Others: "To live in this world // you must ebe able / to do three things: / to love what is mortal; / to hold it // against your bones kknowing / your own life depends on it; / and, when the time comes to let it go, / to let it go." "Oh what good it does the heart / to know it isn't magic!" "I don't know exactly what prayer is. / I do know how to pay attention. ... / Tell me, what else should I have done?" "... the heart cries aloud: / yes, I am willing to be / that wild darkness, / that long, blue body of light." All this, mind you, in the contest of sumptuous, sharply observed, nature poetry. (The poems on owls I find particularly arresting.) This as superb as any carefully edited anthology can be -- and it's by a single author! What must Volume 2 (published October 2005) be like?!?

It's amazing, great quality and beautiful cover.

I love this book. It is thick but not dense. The poems are laid out beautifully and I LOVE the poems of Mary Oliver, they are so personal and wonderfully observed.

You will enjoy reading these poems.book and print quality is good.Mary oliver has a style of her own in every poems.you will start reading poems of other authors after reading this.

If you love poetry, she will be among your treasures. If you don't love poetry, she'll be among your treasures.

Mary Oliver is a genius. You can be more or less close to her poetics, but she has surely “that little something”. My complaints are addressed to the edition. There is something called “publishing” and there is something called “printing”. This “book”, although the term is too generous for the case, belongs to the second category. I don’t know if I should read it or use it to fix a leaning piece of furniture. This should be warned by Amazon. I don’t have a printer myself but in case I had, I’d rather have printed some poems from the internet that buying this bunch of papers put together.