I have a problem with Mary Oliver.
Much as I like her
and I do have a book of hers
all of her poems after a while
seem the same.
It may seem harsh but it’s a judgment
people could make of my poems
or, for that matter, any one’s poems.
Each poet has a voice, just as each singer has,
each artist, and that voice inhabits each of their poems.
You can recognize a Billy Collins poem,
a Charles Simic poem, a Lewis Carrol poem,
or, for that matter, a Shakespeare or Ben Jonson poem.
Each poem within a poet’s work is, of course, different,
but the song, to use Led Zeppelin phrase, remains the same.
There is no way out of it. No way around it.
Maybe familiarity does breed contempt.
But many of us find comfort in familiarity too,
Swings and Roundabouts.
John Malone 
If you like her poetry, as it is, why have you labelled her individual voice as a problem, John? If there is comfort in her voice, why not rest back and go with the flow?
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a simple answer, Carolyn, and I find more and more of my posts emanate from what someone has said in their post : another argument for reading other people’s posts especially if they have ‘liked’ yours 🙂
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It’s a good argument for dipping in and out of as many different works as is plausible 😂 variety is the spice of life they say.
I don’t find you “Samey” by the way.
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thanks Juliette 🙂 and as you say it’s a good argument for ‘sampling’ 🙂
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I like her poetry, but I also like many others. I try to read and hear a lot of voices, and with Mary, as others, often know what I’m getting when I dip my toe in. thought provoking
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I agree. I read her poems from time to time. They are thought provoking. My favourite — it is not in my book — is a poem about a stillborn kitten with ‘one large eye in the centre of its small forehead’. It can be found online
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So true! I think it’s hard to always catch a new train. We ride the old ones so comfortably. When walking with a fried, we often did what her husband called “the dementia loop” because he said we would lose brain function doing it so often. But our brains are good at loops. And if a loop works once, it’s hard to resist repeating it. A new loop is a leap. A new voice is a risk, a consumption of energy.
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indeed; yet it’s good now and then to be ‘shaken’ out of our mental complacency ; but it’s good to have a ‘home’ to return to
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Ha ha. I walked with a friend not a fried.
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“Swings and Roundabouts” …and Root Beer Floats and chocolate truffles… comfort in familiarity.
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