Thursday, June 23, 2011

I came across this poem from gifted poet Mary Oliver,
and was inspired to create a quick sketch.


Five A.M. in the Pinewoods
I'd seen
their hoofprints in the deep
needles and knew
they ended the long night
under the pines, walking
like two mute
and beautiful women toward
the deeper woods, so I
got up in the dark and
went there. They came
slowly down the hill
and looked at me sitting under
the blue trees, shyly
they stepped
closer and stared
from under their thick lashes and even
nibbled some damp
tassels of weeds. This
is not a poem about a dream,
though it could be.
This is a poem about the world
that is ours, or could be.
Finally
one of them — I swear it! —
would have come to my arms.
But the other
stamped sharp hoof in the
pine needles like
the tap of sanity,
and they went off together through
the trees. When I woke
I was alone,
I was thinking:
so this is how you swim inward,
so this is how you flow outward,
so this is how you pray.

~ Mary Oliver ~



8 comments:

  1. Your rough lines made into perfection are the prefect composition for those words made beautiful by Mary Oliver, I've always loved her wordsmithing as a reminder to myself sometimes.

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  2. ramona, i so love your work... you capture the essence of what you're drawing completely... if it's alright i'm going to add you to my blog sidebar so i can keep up with what you're doing (that seems to be the only way i do).

    also, i love the pic of 'atticus' and 'scout' below... i have it in one of my journals... 'to kill a mockingbird' is one of my favorite books and movies.

    xoxo

    lynne

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  3. This is a genial drawing containing a lot of studies, watching the nature for several years and feeling with a loving heart the life of the deer.

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  4. Love your deer sketch, I also enjoy Mary O. poetry, thank you. Your sketch has so much personality with such simple lines. Fab.

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  5. Love the sketch you did for the quote,fits perfectly. Beautiful.

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  6. The eyes on your deer give them an intelligent and assessing quality as in the poem.

    Mary Oliver is a wonderful poet. If you haven't yet read it, there's a poem she wrote called "When Death Comes", where one of the stanzas is:
    When it's over, I want to say: all my life
    I was a bride married to amazement.
    I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

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  7. Hkatz, Yes! I know that poem. I read it at the same time I read this one and enjoyed it equally as much.

    Thanks to everyone for all your kind and thoughtful comments. You keep this ember glowing:)

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  8. What beautifully put together words with lovely drawings. I enjoy many Mary Oliver poems, but haven't read this one before. Your sketches always make me feel calm.
    Thank you.

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