Rags’s Reviews > Upstream: Selected Essays > Status Update

By the end, I realized this book was a love letter to her own internal movement, rhythm, and spirituality(as she called it, not, the other). It is a vibrant exploration of her gusto, her foxy takes on life, and her Provincetown-her living definition of heaven, shaped entirely by the simple, profound act of being alive.

Let this sink in:
"He was, of course, a piece of the sky. His eyes said so. This is not fact; this is the other part of knowing something, when there is no proof, but neither is there any way toward disbelief. Imagine lifting the lid from a jar and finding it filled not with darkness but with light. Bird was like that. Startling, elegant, alive."

No! I am not okay. She didn't have children of her own, but this bird story and how fond "m" and her grew of it, is absolutely breaking my heart.

forgot to mention, oliver did a number on the erotica of a spider mating and laying eggs too. just saying.

forgive me, father, for i have taken serious delight in the hunting of a spider; a spider that preyed upon a cricket. mary oliver made it feel like a cinematic experience. i never imagined, i would feel such intense suspense reading about a spider ensnaring its prey. i’m right back to being that kid passionately glued to the discovery channel.

I have been stealing rogue minutes the entire day to dye myself in the shade of the brilliance of this book, and it is only turning out to be a gift.

Never thought I would know this much about Poe

Three golden rules of life that Mary Oliver was gifted from her considerable greats:
1. to observe with passion
2. to think with patience
3. to live always caringly.

what an exquisite flora and fauna ride, i have had with her. man she can export me to anywhere, i will go. i need so desperately, so badly, a moving picture adaptation with her voice in the background, of this book!

celebrating for myself, for i made it through the YUMMY SECTION-1 !!!!!!!