Never afraid to shed the pretense of academic poetry, never shy of
letting the power of an image lie in unadorned language, Mary Oliver
offers us poems of arresting beauty that reflect on the power of love
and the great gifts of the natural world. Inspired by the familiar lines
from William Wordsworth, "To me the meanest flower that blows can give /
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears," she uncovers the
evidence presented to us daily by nature, in rivers and stones, willows
and field corn, the mockingbird's "embellishments," or the last hours of
darkness.