A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver | Review

Genre: poetry

A collection of contemporary poems, the first one I read by Mary Oliver. And it’s fantastic, bringing out the magic in everyday things and small moments.

I’ve seen reviews saying that they wish this was how they lived their life, noticing details and the world this way. But you can? Take this for a normally stressed, pessimistic (I call it realistic) person who, while reading the poem about the white heron, remembered the grey heron I was chasing down a danish river in a canoe the week before. Everytime I gave up, the damn heron flew out from the bushes and the chase was on again. It was probably not the intention of the poem, which probably has some hidden symbolism, but a nice coincidence.

I got a bit sidetracket – Anyway, I love the sea and the quietness of mornings. So I was bound to love this collection, even though some poems was a better fit for me than others.

Here’s “I go down to the shore” which I’ve memorized by now. Lastly, let me say I’m not an usual poetry reader, but the simplicity of some of the poems (some are longer and more intricate, and I adore them as well) makes it makes it easier for someone new to pick this up. It’s similiar to “milk and honey” in how easy it is to read, but so many levels better.