Mary Oliver

You are young. So you know everything. You leap into the boat and begin rowing. But, listen to me. Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without doubt,I talk directly to your soul. Listen to me.

It does no good to bark at the television,I said. I’ve tried it too. So he stopped.

I read the way a person might swim, to save his or her life. I wrote that way too.

Poetry is a life-cherishing force.