EXTRA: Mary Oliver and Soren Kierkegaard - "Wild Geese" Discussion Continued

Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast

EXTRA EPISODE! This is a short outtake from our conversation on Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese." Jack discusses some connections he sees between Oliver and Kierkegaard, and Connor comments on the philosophical depth of Oliver's poetic project. Read the poem below.? More on Mary Oliver, here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-oliver Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking ?Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking? You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at [e-mail]. 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.