Evidence

Poems

By Mary Oliver
(Beacon Press, Hardcover, 9780807068984, 88pp.)

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Paperback

Categories: American - General

Selected by Indie Booksellers for the Spring 2009 Poetry List

Mary Oliver, winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, was acknowledged by the New York Times Book Review as “far and away, this country’s best-selling poet.” Her twenty books of poetry in­clude Swan, The Truro Bear and Other Adventures, and Red Bird. Oliver lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

“A ‘nature’ poet in the league of Wordsworth, whose poetry is said to have inspired this volume. . . There is still almost audible excitement in her literary voice, but her nature mysticism seems to have reached a stage more of stillness—a quiet that is not so much a quality as a presence that informs most of her images . . . A subtle collection that sometimes teaches but never preaches. All the usual Oliver themes—the divine in the physical world, the importance of having loved, the power and consolation of words—are present.”
—Tim Pfaff, Bay Area Reporter
 
“Gloriously alive, inquisitive, and welcoming. A prolific and cherished poet, [Oliver] makes readers feel as though they’ve been part of the quest for wisdom and grace she records in her lucid, giving, prayerful poems . . . Gratitude is the mode here, and sustained attention is the vehicle . . . Within each lifting lyric, Oliver declares all of life holy.”
—Donna Seaman, Booklist
 
“I think of Oliver as a fierce, uncompromising lyricist, a loyalist of the marshes. Hers is a voice we desperately need.”
—Maxine Kumin