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An Afternoon In The Stacks by Mary Oliver

7/25/2008 4:49:15 PM
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Mary Oliver
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An Afternoon In The Stacks
 
  Closing the book, I find I have left my head
inside. It is dark in here, but the chapters open
their beautiful spaces and give a rustling sound,
words adjusting themselves to their meaning.
Long passages open at successive pages. An echo,
continuous from the title onward, hums
behind me. From in here, the world looms,
a jungle redeemed by these linked sentences
carved out when an author traveled and a reader
kept the way open. When this book ends
I will pull it inside-out like a sock
and throw it back in the library. But the rumor
of it will haunt all that follows in my life.
A candleflame in Tibet leans when I move.

Mary Oliver


Read poems about / on: beautiful, dark, world, life, travel

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Comments about this poem (An Afternoon In The Stacks by Mary Oliver)  more comments >>
Click here to write your comments about this poem (An Afternoon In The Stacks by Mary Oliver)
 
Had Walmer (6/18/2008 6:55:00 PM)
Please, as this poem is by poet William Stafford,
not Mary Oliver - change the named authorship!

Thank you.
K B (10/8/2007 12:25:00 AM)
This poem was written by William Stafford, not Mary Oliver.

Read all 2 comments >>
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7/25/2008 4:49:15 PM. You Are Here: An Afternoon In The Stacks by Mary Oliver

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