"Maybe the desire to make something beautiful is the piece of God that is inside each of us. "
- Mary Oliver
There are so many poignant writings and breath taking quotes by Mary Oliver, it's hard to choose just one. I've used several in previous Sunday Slowdown newsletters. I am always, and even now, discovering more. Her poems and essays allow us to take a deep breath, or let out a long-held exhale. What we are feeling at any given time in our lives, Mary Oliver has somehow magically, and masterfully, put into words.
One of my favorite Mary Oliver books, Devotions, was given to me by a friend, a beautifully inspiring writer herself, who keeps several copies on her bookshelf to give as gifts, a generous and thoughtful calling card of sorts.
Two weekends ago, I had the privilege to attend the sold-out screening of the PBS documentary Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World at The Plaza Theater, one of the Atlanta's oldest movie houses. With its restored red velvet chairs and exquisite sound, Long Story Books gathered a crowd to watch the film. Owner Kate Keifer is renovating an old home and turning it into the bookstore of our dreams. Kate is a soft spoken dynamo with a vision as big as bold as the project she is undertaking. While the bookstore is being built, she is building the business and a community of devoted book lovers. So when Kate sent out an invitation for an advance screening of this documentary, I was in.
For any of you who don't know Mary Oliver, she was a poet's poet. Beloved by many, she had an impressive collection of over thirty published books. Her prolific career was only overshadowed by how many people she touched. Her superpower was making the ordinary extraordinary, making magic of the mundane. Like many artists, she balanced the tension of wanting to be seen and wanting to hide in the hermitage of her own home. In her later years, she embraced her public persona without buying into the celebrity culture.
Mary Oliver's writing wasn't radical. It's magic was it's simplicity.