I read a lot of Mary Oliver’s poetry. A few weeks ago I copied this line from her poem “Swimming One Day in August” in my notebook:
“…it will be time again for the deepening and quieting of the spirit.”
Then I jotted down a few things that deepen and quiet my spirit, and “words” came to mind. Yesterday I took that idea for my poem, “Growing a Story.”
Growing a Story I put pen to paper hoping to begin with the right word, the best word (there are so many from which to choose) just one, then another will arrive to keep the first company (we all need friends) the friends will ask others to join in, and they will grow into phrases, sentences, images, until they become… a story.
For today’s Poetry Roundup please visit Karen Edmiston* Thanks, Karen!
Imagine the Possibilities 
I love the idea of a story as a gathering of friends. Thanks for recommending Mary Oliver’s “Swimming One Day in August”!
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So lovely, the image of words gathering friends. I recently bought two of Mary Olivers books and am enjoying her work.
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This is a perfect one for us grown-ups, but I would have loved to have shown it to students, Rose, to show them how a poem (a story) grows, one word surrounded by friends.
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What a joyful way to write! 🙂
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Ooh, Rose, this is fabulous. I would love to share this with students before we write group poems. May I have your permission to do that? I wouldn’t print it out–only display it and/or read it out loud. I think it’s such a gorgeous invitation to collaboration–even though you’re talking about words and I’d be using it to mean students, too. No worries if you’d rather I not. But I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask!
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Laura, I would be truly honored to have you use my poem. Thank you !
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Thank you so much–it’s truly lovely.
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A gathering of friends, indeed… just like this blog! Cheers for this… and thanks.
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I love Mary Oliver, and your image of a story as a gathering of friends is lovely!
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Love the image of one word after another, growing a story as a gathering of friends.
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