Tag Archives: "Blossom"

Mary Oliver on Frog (and Human) Sex

By Robin Bates | Published: April 17, 2024

Mary Oliver captures the magic of April in these two sexually-charged frog poems.

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Frogs Everywhere Shouting Their Desire

By Robin Bates | Published: April 4, 2019

Friday Warm weather looks like it is finally here for good in southern Tennessee, and the frogs are out in force. My biology students inform me, whenever I teach Mary Oliver’s “Blossom,” that all the peeping and croaking is designed to attract a mate. Well aware of this, Oliver appears to have written her poem […]

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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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Why Read Lit? Let Me Count the Reasons

By Robin Bates | Published: April 20, 2015

I grapple today about why it is essential to read lit. And what happens to us when we don’t.

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