Parker J. Palmer
7 October 2020
Mary Oliver earned a place in the pantheon of world poets. But the wildflowers and wild geese for which she’s famous weren’t the only subjects that drew her attention. She also turned her keen eye, open heart, brilliant mind, and writerly courage toward our political life.
When you come to trust a voice over a long period of time, you have to take what it says seriously, even if it shakes you to the core. You can’t say, “Speak to me sweetly, or don’t speak at all.” You may decide that you don’t agree with the words that shake you, but you have to reckon with them.
MO’s prose poem, “Of the Empire,” is the most compelling brief description I’ve seen of America as it’s been revealed under #45. It shakes me to the core because it’s true. It’s not the whole picture of American, not by a long shot. But it’s the part of the picture we haven’t wanted to talk about: now we must.
The mess we’re in did not originate with #45. But because he and his crew embody all these American pathologies so shamelessly, he has shoved them in our faces and given us a clear choice: do we choose new life or more death? May we choose new life—and may we ask everyone we know to do the same.
To complement the above with something more hopeful, please see the piece my friend Maria Popova posted on her Brain Pickings site about “Healing the Heart of Democracy.” https://tinyurl.com/zmx553z