The New York Times has called Mary Oliver's poems "thoroughly convincing - as genuine, moving, and implausible as the first caressing breeze of spring." In this stunning collection of forty poems - nineteen previously unpublished - she writes of nature and love, of the way they transform over time. And the way they remain constant. And what did you think love would be like? A summer day? The brambles in their places, and the long stretches of mud?...

"With consummate craftsmanship, [the author] has fashioned fifteen luminous prose pieces: on nature, writing, and herself and those around her. She praises Whitman, denounces cuteness, notes where to find the extraordinary, and extols solitude"--

""Mary Oliver moves by instinct, faith, and determination. She is among our finest poets, and still growing."-Alicia Ostriker, The Nation" ""Mary Oliver's poetry is fine and deep; it reads like a blessing. Her special gift is to connect us with our sources in the natural world, its beauties and terrors and mysteries and consolations."-Stanley Kunitz" ""One would have to reach back perhaps to [John] Clare or Christopher Smart to safely cite a parallel...