And finally, the Mary Oliver post

The first time I was fortunate enough to see Mary Oliver read at UCLA was a couple of years ago. When I received an email from UCLA Live and saw her listed, I went online immediately and snapped up three tickets. Flanked by POM and my sister, we “mmm-ed” with the rest of the surprisingly sensitive L.A. audience every time she read a line that punched our collective gut or poked our collective heart or strummed our collective soul. We listened attentively despite the ungodly loud hearing aid whine another nearby attendee was obliviously projecting. Mary Oliver was signing books afterward, and I happily waited in a line that moved more quickly than the lines for most Disneyland rides, and had her sign my copy of Thirst. (I had two other books for POM and my sister to get signed, since they didn’t have any of her books themselves.) As she signed, I babbled my semi-planned oration of thanks…thanks for allowing her work to be used on the AP Lang exam about a decade ago, because that is how I discovered her, thanks for her amazing poetry…but with an emphasis on babble. I think I was so excited and nervous to be there in front of her, and I talked too fast and stammered over my words. She just blinked at me.

Nice Story...

...on Mary Oliver and her late partner, Molly Malone Cook. Oliver is publishing a book of Cook's photos. Cool!

http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bk-reynolds6jan06,0,5486849.story?coll=la-books-center
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