Read a poem, talk about it, read it again.
Episode 55: Wild Geese - Mary Oliver
1/25/2019
In the wake of Mary Oliver's recent passing, Connor and Jack delve into one of her most popular poems, "Wild Geese." Connor is dazzled by the way the poem moves, and Jack can't help bringing Tom Petty into the conversation.
Read the poem below. More on Mary Oliver, here.
Wild Geese By: Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — over and over announcing your place in the family of things.