My Mary Oliver Poems: #4 Just Lying on the Grass at Blackwater

 This particular poem intrigued me due to the possible attraction to death that Mary Oliver describes. As humans, we often think of death as something dark, a process so foreign that we do not fully understand how it works until we undergo it ourselves. However, Oliver spins a different perspective on this inevitable human demise--she calls it the "glamour of death". Instead of seeing death as a painful affair, she opens our eyes to the connection we could possibly feel with nature. To be one with nature, "to be the green grass!--or maybe the pink rose, or the blue iris" would be a wonderful experience that only some people are fortunate enough to know. 

This poem reminds me of Edward Abbey's statements regarding his opinions on death. He always explained how dying in the depths of nature is a privilege and something that he was quite jealous of. If he read this poem, I assume that he would agree with its positive ideas of becoming one with nature. Oliver goes on to describe that the closest way that you can experience that connection with nature is to lie down in the fields, taking off your shoes so you can frolic around and feel the Earth between your toes. 

My favorite line is "If you can sing, do it. If not, even silence can feel, to the world, like happiness, like praise, from the pool of shade you have found beneath the everlasting". Many birds will chirp their tune, reveling at the beauty of their world just as humans acknowledge the environment. However, it is arguably even more powerful to take in the world silently, as the scenery around as has truly made us speechless. One day, we may get to experience the possible glamour of death. But for now, we must continue lying in the grass.