Poetry

 I loved Mary Olivers collection of poetry. I have always loved poetry and enjoyed studying it throughout high school.  I particularly liked how she connects her poetry to a spiritual aspect involving prayer. There were several pieces that really stood out to me. 

  The first was Six Recognitions of the Lord.

She begins with these lines

“ I know a lot of fancy words. 

I tear them from my heart and my tongue. 

Then I pray. 

 This really struck me. Sometimes we view prayer as such a fancy thing, as if we are supposed to impress God. This is so funny to me because God already know the deepest parts of our heart. He is aware of our every thought, our every prayer before we speak it. Yet we still fail to throw away our elaborate expressions and detailed wording and just get to the point. God already knows...He understands. 

Praying is another piece that really made me think. 

 She restates the thoughts that I took away from the first poem. 

“ A few words and don’t try to make them elaborate, this isn’t a contest, but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak. 

This was such a huge thing for me to really grasp for the longest time. It made me stop and examine what prayer was really about and what I thought about prayer.