SUSAN SWARTZ AND THE ONE WORLD WE ALL BELONG TO
Just like Susan, Mary Oliver has dedicated most of her career to the environment. The American poet and recipient of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize turns towards nature for inspiration and describes the sense of wonder it instills in her. “When it’s over,” she says, “I want to say: all my life / I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.” (When Death Comes from New and Selected Poems (1992))
This month, the 77-year old Oliver released her newest book of poetry entitled A Thousand Mornings. In a recent interview with NPR’s Rachel Martin, Oliver says her work has become more spiritual over the years — but she feels a great sorrow over humanity’s lack of care for that world. “The woods that I loved as a child are entirely gone. The woods that I loved as a young adult are gone. The woods that most recently I walked in are not gone, but they’re full of bicycle trails,” she says.
All of the pieces in A Thousand Mornings are lovely, but Susan is particularly drawn to these resonant words:
“This morning
the beautiful white heron
was floating along above the water
and then into the sky of
this one world
we all belong to
where everything
sooner or later
is part of everything else
which thought made me feel
for a while
quite beautiful myself.”
— MARY OLIVER, POEM OF THE WORLD
Visit Susan’s Current Exhibition on her website, or even join her in London for the opening celebrations at Belgravia Gallery next week November 5-8, 2012. Exhibition on view October 22 – November 24, 2012.