Mary Oliver Helps Me—Haikuing Through Life!

Larada Horner-Miller

2 years ago

Mary Oliver’s poems are my favorites. She focuses mostly on nature. Then she adds a sprinkle of spirituality like prayer and it’s a perfect combination. So, this week I’m sharing some of my haikus inspired by a Mary Oliver poem.

Meet Mary Oliver

“Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. She found inspiration for her work in nature and had a lifelong habit of solitary walks in the wild. Her poetry is characterized by wonderment at the natural environment, vivid imagery, and unadorned language. In 2007, she was declared the best-selling poet in the United States.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Oliver

What Haikuing Through Life Means?

Haikuing through life helps me make sense of this life we’re leading in an economy of words. Yes, life’s topics inspire me to write haikus, a three-line poem with Japanese origin broken up into syllable counts: 1^st line–5 syllables, 2^nd line–7 syllables, 3^rd line–5 syllables.

In my meditation group, the inspirational reading for November 14, 2024 was a Mary Oliver’s poem, “I Happened to Be Standing.” Listen to her read her poem:

https://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=8786

Here’s my haikus in response to her poem. The first one offers a variety of third lines to the haiku.

I can’t put prayer
In a box. Creation prays!
Listen to a bird!

a tree!

the sky!

a child!

the sea!

a hill!

a cat!

a dog!

an ant!

squirrels!

horses!

the moon!

the sun!

a mouse!

the sand!

You can see that poem sparked a lot of responses from me because, originally, a haiku is supposed to only have three lines. I had to stop the list because it could have gone on forever! What would your third line(s) be? Remember it has to be five syllables!

Enjoy A Couple More of My Haikus Inspired by Mary Oliver’s Poem

Words are so scrambled!
Prayer makes all the difference!
Prayer connects me!

My identity
Stays instinct as Larada!
I know who I am!

My God speaking this to me:

“I am in control.
What appears is not what is!
Regardless, I AM!"

Who am I now that
The world has changed drastically?
My God protects me!

I love writing haikus in response to the inspirational reading during my meditation group, and Mary Oliver inspires me. She laces prayer and nature together in a thought-provoking manner, encouraging me to think outside the box about prayer.

I love the opening lines to “I Happened to Be Standing:“

I don’t know where prayers go,
or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep. . .

Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings, (The Penguin Press, 2012), 3-4.

Finally, did you listen to Mary Oliver? If not, here’s where you can read her poem. In the box below, click on “Reflections on the Teche.” Scroll down a little on the page: