Mary Oliver, 'Dogfish'

[tea_drinker77]

Some kind of relaxed and beautiful thing
kept flickering in with the tide
and looking around.
Black as a fisherman's boot,
with a white belly.
If you asked for a picture I would have to draw a smile
under the perfectly round eyes and above the chin,
which was rough
as a thousand sharpened nails.
And you know
what a smile means,
don't you?
*
I wanted the past to

Comments

[angiedub]

I love Mary Oliver. I have volumes 1 and 2 of her selected poems and this is in the first one.

I think the images are almost haiku-like although that's not the poetry form that she uses.

And I like that you like her. Now I have someone else to share M.O. with. :)

[tea_drinker77]

I love Mary Oliver. I just finished reading Dream Work. I particularly like the way she moves from the simple to the complex in her poetry. I want to read American Primitive next.