Tag Archives: "In Blackwater Woods"

the passing of all shining things

By Robin Bates | Published: October 13, 2022

e.e. cummings has a dialogue with Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” in his own poem about autumn. I include Frost and Oliver in the reflection as well.

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Feeding This Feverish Plot

By Robin Bates | Published: April 17, 2021

Mary Oliver’s “Fish” may be her interpretation of the post-Resurrection story of Jesus eating boiled fish.

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Lord, Thou’st Made the World Too Beautiful

By Robin Bates | Published: October 5, 2019

Millay’s gorgeous poem about autumn testifies to God’s hand in the world.

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R.I.P. Mary Oliver, Bride of Amazement

By Robin Bates | Published: January 18, 2019

Friday Mary Oliver, who died yesterday, may have been America’s favorite poet. I taught her Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive for over 20 years in a nature-focused Introduction to Literature class and so have seen up close her impact on readers. When death has entered my own life, I have often turned to Oliver’s poetry. For […]

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The Fires and the Black River of Loss

By Robin Bates | Published: May 18, 2017

We recently held a memorial service for my dear friend and colleague Kate Chandler. I read from some of Kate’s eloquent nature writings and concluded with a Mary Oliver poem.

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On Loving and Letting Go

By Robin Bates | Published: August 11, 2013

Mary Oliver’s “In Blackwater Woods” instructs us in how to live and how to die.

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