Margin Notes: Why I Wake Early

Why I Wake Early 

by Mary Oliver

The forty-seven new works in this volume include poems on crickets, toads, trout lilies, black snakes, goldenrod, bears, greeting the morning, watching the deer, and, finally, lingering in happiness. Each poem is imbued with the extraordinary perceptions of a poet who considers the everyday in our lives and the natural world around us and finds a multitude of reasons to wake early.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Mary Oliver and this collection was wonderful. Her thoughtful, simple poems elevate the ordinary and focus on the beauty of nature. I love how she imagines lives for plants and animals that gives the dignity rather than making them into characters. I love reading her poems alive to hear what the words sound like--almost like a play in that you get such a different meaning from it when it's read aloud than when it's read to oneself from the page.

My personal favorites in this collection include:
Why I Wake Early
Bone
Freshen the Flowers, She Said
Beans
The Poet Goes to Indiana
Snow Geese
Breakage
This World
Clouds
The Lover of Earth Cannot Help Herself
"Just a Minute"... Said A Voice

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