Yannick Trapman-O'Brien
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March Reading list; “Waldeinsamkeit”
🕑 Added 2023-03-06 14:43:19 +0000 UTCIf you’ve been with the Patreon forever, you may remember that I had wanted to read this book a year and a half ago, but lost it for a while. Now that I’ve hands on it again, and since I’m once again staring down the barrel of a busy season (with Overlook almost here, and exciting updates for Fair Trade to come), I felt the need to ground again with a writer who embodies the best of a good walk in the woods*.
Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver has a rare combination of keen eye and open heart that makes any time spent in nature an invitation to dig our hands into the essence of what living is. Her writing details all the small calls to sense, grace, and humility in the world around us. But the pleasant surprise of Upstream is the way Oliver laces up her boots and walks through literature as well, detailing the arc of her life and path to peace through great writers she has loved dearly.
At times, it’s a dense brush to get through - but Oliver has a steady pace, and a light but insistent footfall that sets a tempo and carries you through. If you’ve ever felt something crack open a bit reading Mary Oliver’s poetry, I definitely recommend taking a walk through her essays.
RELATED READING
“I Got Saved by the Beauty of the World”
On Being with Krista Tippett
Upstream was a rare treat for me, because it let me hear directly from an author whose poems had made such an impact on me. I’m a big fan of Krista Tippett’s conversations, so I find there’s some of the same pleasure and insight in listening to them talk.
Mary Oliver
This is the poem that permanently ingrained Mary Oliver into my life. It was gifted me by a friend, and I return to it often. Apply as needed.
The title link is for Mary reading it. If you prefer, here’s Tom Hiddelston reading it. Or if you’re allergic to quality, you could suffer me reading it instead.
*Waldeinsamkeit - German, n.
“The feeling of being alone in the woods, an easy solitude and a connectedness to nature”
- From “Lost in Translation,” by Ella Frances Sanders.
