Poem- Lake Bonny Park

“Of course I have always known you are present in the clouds, and the black oak I especially adore, and the wings of birds. But you are present too in the body, listening to the body, teaching it to live, instead of all the touching with disembodied joy.” This quote in “Six Recognitions of the Lord” really stood out to me! This to me was powerful. Just thinking about how God is always here for us no matter what. This quote to me just keeps telling me that I have to constantly trust in God because he is always going to be there for me no matter what. I should always know this, and I should not have to feel him touching me or see evidence to believe this and he is going to constantly be teaching me everything I need to know. Then in “Messenger” the quote that was, “My work is loving the world” was just such a refresher to me! God is always telling us if that we are with him we are going to love everything. “One cannot truly love and be present to God without being led back to loving the World.” It is such an example to other people. A lot of times I forget about that and just want to do my own thing, until I have to remember who I am representing and going to follow. Then when reading “Poetry as a spiritual practice for Mary Oliver” really made me think about a lot. I never really realized how poetry can be a spiritual practice. I always thought of poetry as something I could never get and how boring it was reading it. I never really looked to poetry as anything religious until now. I guess when reading things and not blocking ideas out and opening them to myself and trying to get what Professor Corrigan is trying to say really gets me to grasp a lot about poetry. When reading this it made me realize how conversation can really be two meanings as well. I really liked the quote that was explained by Oliver. Plus reading about the quote gave me a different perception for the quote. I really enjoyed reading “Poetry as a spiritual practice for Mary Oliver”. I taught me a lot and gave me a lot of knowledge and refreshed me on things I needed.

"I went to Lake Bonny Park for this field trip, and I stayed there for at least 45 minutes."

Nature is blue

Nature can cling to you like glue

Especially when they do not know anyone and are new

Nature is always like jell-o

Nature is always mellow

And can turn into different colors

So you can never tell what it thinks

Or what it says behind your back

At times it can turn out wack

But nature can do you wrong

Disasters can be long

But you can come out of the disaster with strength

The strength of nature is like the kiss of death

It whispers to you in your ear

And does many ordinary things

You have to be prepared for anything

Especially all the different wings

You never know what to expect

So you have to watch what you let get close

And it’s normally the closest that hurts you the most.