Poetry from Recovery

One by Mary Oliver and two by the author

I promised myself that if recovery wasn't as much fun as using, I would go back to using. That was over 20 years ago. Part of that fun is exploring art, and especially poetry.

“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?

“Mindful” by Mary Oliver from Why I Wake Early. © Beacon Press, 2005.

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I am Love

God said, I am love.

And I replied, I am love.

And all the dogs on the couch, the birds in their house,

And the sheep, and the chickens, and the she-ass

Together they said, we too are love.

And the melting snow with her running creeks, her rivers, and her seas,

the closest thing to infinity I can touch,

Together they said, we also,

We are love.

And the fields jeweled with flowers and the sprouts in the window,

And the garlic in its bed all said

We are love.

And all together, in the harmony of what was heard,

In the perfection of every breath,

We said

We are love,

We are all love,

And we are all one,

And there is only God.

© Linville M. Meadows, 2020.

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