“Mindful” by Mary Oliver

I think this might be my favourite poem. The reminder to look and listen, it dovetails with my current read — “How to Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy” which I’ll have more to say about once I’ve had some time to digest it. I have many photos similar to the one above, trying to capture that “untrimmable light”, as the sun flashes through the trees lighting up, leaves, grass, seed heads, buildings and people, or alternatively, when the sun sparkles across the water. In many ways my photos, and this blog, are my way of remembering “these teachings”. Anyway, enough from me, enjoy these words from Mary Oliver.

"Mindful" by Mary Oliver

Everyday
I see or hear
Something

that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me

like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —

to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself

over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking

about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,

the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,

how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —

the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made

out of grass?