I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Mary OliverRead
When the blackberries hang swollen in the woods, in the brambles nobody owns, I spend all day among the high branches, reaching my ripped arms, thinking of nothing, cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth; all day my body accepts what it is. In the dark creeks that run by there is this thick paw of my life darting among the black bells, the leaves; there is this happy tongue.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the joy of immersing oneself in nature and the simple pleasures of life.
In this quote, Mary Oliver celebrates the beauty of nature and the bliss found in engaging with it. The imagery of foraging blackberries symbolizes a carefree existence, where one can indulge in the richness of life without the burdens of the mind. The act of reaching for the fruit amidst untouched wilderness illustrates a deep connection to the natural world and the importance of embracing one’s own existence within it.
Themes
NatureBlackberriesJoyLifeSimplicity
In practice
Example use cases
During a nature retreat, this quote could be shared to inspire participants to connect with their surroundings.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes →At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
Mary OliverRead
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary OliverRead
For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead
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