Mary Oliver's "Preparing the House"

The Daily Poem

Goldberry Studios

Education For Kids, Arts, Kids & Family

4.6 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2021

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary walks in the wild. It is characterised by a sincere wonderment at the impact of natural imagery, conveyed in unadorned language. In 2007, she was declared to be the country's best-selling poet.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Daily Poem. I'm David Kern, and today is Tuesday, December 14, 2021.
0:06.5	Today's poem is by Mary Oliver. She lived from 1935 to 2019. It is one of our country's best-selling poets.
0:14.6	She won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize and has been widely anthologized and read several times, even just on this
0:22.1	podcast. And the poem that I'm going to read today is an Advent-themed poem. It's called
0:26.7	Making the House Ready. It goes like this.
0:32.2	Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed, but still nothing is as shining as it should be for you.
0:41.6	Under the sink, for example, is an uproar of mice.
0:45.1	It is the season of their many children.
0:48.6	What shall I do?
0:51.5	And under the eaves and through the walls
0:54.5	the squirrels have nod their ragged entrances
0:57.0	but it is the season when they need shelter
1:00.7	so what shall I do
1:01.7	and the raccoon limps into the kitchen
1:05.7	and opens the cupboard while the dog snores
1:07.7	the cat hugs the pillow
1:09.1	and what shall I do?
1:12.9	Beautiful is the new snow falling in the yard and the fox
1:16.8	who is staring boldly up the path to the door.
1:22.2	And still I believe you will come, Lord.
1:25.7	You will, when I speak to the fox, the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea goose, know that really
1:33.9	I am speaking to you whenever I say, as I do all morning and afternoon, come in, come in.
	...

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