Bird’s Eye: We open with an marvellous Maria Shriver interview with Mary Oliver, known and loved by anyone who loves poetry. (If you don’t know her, you can read 86 of her poems here.) Then we look at the words on a screen, as a short Vimeo video looks at movie titles from then to now. Surprisingly fascinating. And then a quick, but further description would spoil the magic. Think about pineapples.
* Maria Shriver Interviews Poet Mary Oliver Oprah Magazine
Maria Shriver: Do you think it’s possible to contain the spiritual world and also be of the “real world” in 2011?
Mary Oliver: I definitely believe that. And I think if you skimp on one or the other, you’re not getting the whole show. You have to be in the world to understand what the spiritual is about, and you have to be spiritual in order to truly be able to accept what the world is about.
Maria Shriver: When you talk of the spiritual, though, you’re not talking about organized religion.
Mary Oliver: I’m not, though I do think ceremony is beautiful and powerful. But I’ve also met some people in organized religion who aren’t so hot. I’ve written before that God has “so many names.” To me, it’s all right if you look at a tree, as the Hindus do, and say the tree has a spirit. It’s a mystery, and mysteries don’t compromise themselves—we’re never gonna know. I think about the spiritual a great deal. I like to think of myself as a praise poet…. I try to praise. If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like
