A Fabulous Book

     Mary Oliver knows how to write.  She is a wonderful, insightful, and gifted poet.  She is also a terrific essayist, and her newest collection is another example of fabulous writing.  The book I'm talking about is Upstream: Selected Essays, which was published last year.

     Be aware that many of the essays were already published in previous collections, but there are a few new essays as well.  Still, if you would like to sample some of her best writing without buying a stack of books, this is a good place to start. 

     One reason that I've long loved her writing is that she finds the spiritual, the eternal, in the everyday.  She explains her love of the outdoors and why she finds such peace and perspective there.  If you've been a fan of her poetry, but would like to delve more deeply into the thinking behind her poems, this book is for you.