Herstory - Mary Oliver Moon Poems

To celebrate the first full moon after the passing of poet Mary Oliver, I wanted to share some of her poems that dealt with the moon.

I’ll be honest, my knowledge of this prodigious soul only expanded upon her death. As is happening so often lately, things come up over and over when I’m meant to give attention to them. I heard of her passing in a podcast, then from one of my beloved yoga teachers, and then I saw the articles. And then I explored her work, some of which I was familiar with, but had not made the connection. And it’s all beautiful.

So today, I googled “Mary Oliver Moon Poem” and two poems came up that resonated with me. There are in their entirety below. If you were unfamiliar with her like me, I highly recommend you find a book of her poems. Or if you were fortunate to be able to know of her work before she passed, maybe this is a good time to go back and see if another message was meant for you today.

 The last stanza of Strawberry Moon by Mary Oliver

6. 

Now the women are gathering

in smoke-filled rooms,

rough as politicians,

scrappy as club fighters.

And should anyone be surprised

if sometimes, when the white moon rises,

women want to lash out

with a cutting edge?

“The Sweetness of Dogs” by Mary Oliver

What do you say, Percy? I am thinking
of sitting out on the sand to watch
the moon rise. It’s full tonight.
So we go

and the moon rises, so beautiful it
makes me shudder, makes me think about
time and space, makes me take
measure of myself: one iota
pondering heaven. Thus we sit, myself

thinking how grateful I am for the moon’s
perfect beauty and also, oh! how rich
it is to love the world. Percy, meanwhile,
leans against me and gazes up
into my face. As though I were just as wonderful
as the perfect moon.

“The Sweetness of Dogs” by Mary Oliver from Dog Songs