How Pulitzer-Winning Poet Mary Oliver Refused to Give Up on Her Dream Even When She Couldn’t Afford a Single Sheet of Paper

We know that Mary Oliver (September 10, 1935–January 17, 2019) was a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and a woman of immense talent who lived in the present moment, loved her dog Percy, and celebrated nature.

But we don’t know much about her life before acclaim and accolades made her one of America’s most beloved wordsmiths. A glimpse of that life, however, was revealed in her hour-long poetry reading on Oct. 15, 2012 at the 92nd Street Y.

“You don’t have a lot of money when you want to be a poet,” Oliver said. She further explained to the audience that there was a time when she could barely afford basic necessities, much less the paper needed to write her poems.

So to make ends meet, she went to work at a printing company, a place where she not only earned a living but also earned an opportunity to practice her craft. The management let her keep a few 4-by-11 paper trims, which had just enough space to jot down a poem and nourish her creativity.

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One of the pieces born that way was “White Heron Rises Over Blackwater,” included in “Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver.” And this is what I would like to share with you today. Enjoy!

WHITE HERON RISES OVER BLACKWATER
from “Devotions” by Mary Oliver

I wonder
       what it is
              that I will accomplish
                     today

if anything
       can be called
              that marvelous word.
                     It won’t be

my kind of work,
       which is only putting
              words on a page,
                     the pencil

haltingly calling up
       the light of the world,
              yet nothing appearing on paper
                     half as bright

as the mockingbird’s
       verbal hilarity
              in the still unleafed shrub
                     in the churchyard —

or the white heron
       rising
              over the swamp
                     and the darkness,

his yellow eyes
       and broad wings wearing
              the light of the world
                     in the light of the world —

ah yes, I see him.
       He is exactly
              the poem
                     I wanted to write

Complement this poem from “Devotions” with Mary Oliver’s poem on living in the present moment.

Gavril Nikolaev

I’m a freelance writer with 6 years of experience in SEO blogging and article publishing. While you’re here, get the latest updates by subscribing to my newsletter.