Small Cruelties

Your weekly Mary Oliver poem and writing prompt.

Welcome to Dream Work: A Year-Long Writing Journey with Mary Oliver

In the spirit of immersing myself deeper in the practice and studying of nature poetry,
I am embarking on a year-long writing journey with Mary Oliver, reading a single poem of hers each day and then writing one in response to it.

I’m bringing you along on the journey. Every Sunday, I share a Mary Oliver poem, one of mine I’ve written in response, along with a poetry prompt for you to write your own in conversation with her.

Each week, we will gather in the comments section and share our Mary Oliver inspired poetry with each other.

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Photo by Gianluca Colicchia on Unsplash

We Should Be Well Prepared 
Mary Oliver

The way the plovers cry goodbye.
The way the dead fox keeps on looking down the hill with open eye.
The way the leaves fall, and then there’s the long wait.
The way someone says we must never meet again.
The way mold spots the cake,
The way sourness overtakes the cream.
The way the river water rushes by, never to return.
The way the days go by, never to return.
The way somebody comes back, but only in a dream.

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

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How to Prepare a Fish
Ash Kilback

The way my mother-in-law washes the frozen fish in cold water with her bare hands.
The way she uses the scissors to cut off the small fins, drops them into the empty sink.

The way she removes the scales with a metal scalpel, meant to cut a grapefruit.
The way she cuts the body from belly to throat, pries it open with her knuckles.

The way she holds the intestines in her palm, like a purse made from pearls of blood.
The way she lays the hollow body on the silver dish and dresses it with sliced ginger.

The way I stand at the sink next to her and memorize every subtle gesture.
The way she teaches me how to commit a small act of cruelty.

The way we sit at the kitchen table after and suck the meat off the fine bones.
The way we leave nothing, except the curvature of the spine, fully intact.

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This Week’s Prompt: Small Cruelties

This week, write a response poem inspired by Mary Oliver’s, We Should Be Well Prepared, where she writes a list of the small cruelties we are touched by in everyday life. The cycle of life & death that we witness in the natural world and in our everyday lives. You can begin your poem how Mary does, with repeating each line with ‘the way..’ or simply write a list poem detailing small cruelties.

Come back to the comments on this post next Sunday, February 15th and share your poem.