num_pages: 96
description: Joy is not made to be a crumb writes Mary Oliver and certainly joy abounds in her new book of poetry and prose poems. Swan  her twentieth volume shows us that though we may be made out of the dust of stars we are of the world she captures here so the acorn that hides within it an entire tree; the wings of the swan like the stretching light of the river; the frogs singing in the shallows; the mockingbird dancing in air. Swan is Olivers tribute to the mortal way of desiring and living in the world to which the poet is renowned for having always been totally loyal. As the Los Angeles Times noted innumerable readers go to Olivers poetry for solace regeneration and inspiration. Few poets express the immense complexities of human experience as skillfully or capture so memorably the smallest nuances. Speaking for example of stones she writes the little ones you can / hold in your hands their heartbeats / so secret so hidden it may take years / before finally you hear them. It is no wonder Oliver ranks according to the Weekly Standard among the finest poets the English language has ever produced. 
language: English
title: Swan: Poems and Prose Poems
publisher: Beacon Press