mary oliver - "aunt leaf"

i love coming across a piece of writing by someone i have never heard of or read before. the little joy of reading something that is so lovely or rich or simply well-written is one of the best rushes i think i know.

i have an image of a leaf - the first leaf to turn on the cherry tree in my front yard. it makes sense for it to be connected to a first week of school piece and then through some quirk in the time-space continuum, along comes a poem by a writer i haven't heard of but who has drawn comparisons to emily dickinson among others and more importantly and serendipitously has written something that sits nicely side-by-side with the image . . . mary oliver, i’m likely the last person to know about her but i am thrilled by her gentle sense of play and nature and of how those two things can come together so fully and so innocently . . . .


aunt leaf
 
needing one, i invented her -
the great-great-aunt dark as hickory
called shining-leaf, or drifting-cloud
or the-beauty-of-the-night.

dear aunt, i'd call into the leaves,
and she'd rise up, like an old log in a pool,
and whisper in a language only the two of us knew
the word that meant follow,

and we'd travel
cheerful as birds
out of the dusty town and into the trees
where she would change us both into something quicker -
two foxes with black feet,
two snakes green as ribbons,
two shimmering fish - and all day we'd travel.

at day's end she'd leave me back at my own door
with the rest of my family,
who were kind, but solid as wood
and rarely wandered. while she,
old twist of feathers and birch bark,
would walk in circles wide as rain and then
float back

scattering the rags of twilight
on fluttering moth wings;

or she'd slouch from the barn like a gray opossum;

or she'd hang in the milky moonlight
burning like a medallion,

this bone dream, this friend i had to have,
this old woman made out of leaves.


if you like this poem and wish to read others by mary then here’s a treasure trove of her poetry. if you’re inclined to dig deeper inside mary’s life then you can spend a fair bit of time at the web index devoted to people with just that in mind!