Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver is an American poet born September 10, 1935 in Ohio. Her first collection of poems, No Voyage, and Other Poems, was published in 1963.  Her fifth collection, American Primitive (1983), won the Pulitzer Prize.

Oliver's work turns towards nature for its inspiration and describes the sense of wonder it instills in her. "When it's over," she says, "I want to say: all my life / I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms." [Wikipedia]  Mary Oliver is reckoned to be this country's best-selling poet - in 2007, a list on poetryfoundation.org of the top 15 best-selling poetry volumes in America as of mid-January included five Mary Oliver titles. She has lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, since the 1960s, & the New York Times has called her "The Bard of Provincetown".


Find Mary Oliver in the library catalog

Mary Oliver links:

Mary Oliver on Poets.org
Mary Oliver's official Beacon Press website
A podcast of Mary Oliver reading at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe in 2001
Mary Oliver on The Poetry Foundation website