Learning to be astonished

From "Messenger" by Mary Oliver:


"Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? 
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me 
     keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,


which is mostly standing still and learning to be
     astonished...."

What is important to an artist

Poet Mary Oliver, from her book Our World, on her life with photographer Molly Malone Cook:
"In some consideration of my writings, a reviewer once surmised that I must have a private income of some substance, since all I ever seemed to do (in my poems) was wander around Provincetown's woods and its dunes and its long beaches. It was a silly surmise. Looking at the world was one of the important parts of my life, and so that is what I did. It was as simple as that. Poets, if they ever make a living from their writings, do not do so when they are first beginning to publish, and this was years ago. We did not, as I have said before, have much income. We had love and work and play instead."

Paying Attention

Invitation


Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of you busy


and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles


for a musical battle,
to see who can sing 
the highest note,
or the lowest,


or the most expressive of mirth,
of the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air


as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine


and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude---
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing


just to be alive 
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
I beg of you,


do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.


It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.


                                  by Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver said....

"To pay attention, this is our endless & proper work."