Mary Oliver Posters and Art Prints

Mary Oliver — 'Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.'

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

"Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished." -Mary Oliver

The Journey by Mary Oliver

"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver White Background and Border

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

When I Am Among The Trees by Mary Oliver

How I Go To The Woods Ordinarily I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable. I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my ways of praying, as you no doubt have yours. Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing. If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much. Mary Oliver

"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver

Sleeping in the Forest by Mary Oliver

I Worried I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers flow in the right direction, will the earth turn as it was taught, and if not how shall I correct it? Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven, can I do better? Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows can do it and I am, well, hopeless. Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it, am I going to get rheumatism, lockjaw, dementia? Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing. And gave it up. And took my old body and went out into the morning, and sang. Mary Oliver

What I Have Learned So Far Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside, looking into the shining world? Because, properly attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion. Can one be passionate about the just, the ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so. All summations have a beginning, all effect has a story, all kindness begins with the sown seed. Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of light is the crossroads of —indolence, or action. Be ignited, or be gone. Mary Oliver

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd" William Blake

"What we have loved, others will love, and we will teach them how." William Wordsworth

"If the story is in you, it has to come out." William Faulkner

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." William Wordsworth

“We have within ourselves Enough to fill the present day with joy, And overspread the future years with hope.” — William Wordsworth

“We have within ourselves Enough to fill the present day with joy, And overspread the future years with hope.” — William Wordsworth

“A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.” -- Flannery O'Connor

"Wonder. Go on and Wonder." William Faulkner

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." William Wordsworth

"If the story is in you, it has to come out." William Faulkner

"Wonder. Go on and Wonder." William Faulkner

“A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.” -- Flannery O'Connor

"What we have loved, others will love, and we will teach them how." William Wordsworth

"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." Mary Oliver

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd" William Blake White Background and Border