What I'm Reading #4

ourworld
Originally uploaded by Randuwa

Since I'm in a blathering mood tonight.....

I took my car into my mechanic to have the oil changed and a headlamp replaced around noon. Then I walked from his shop to downtown Silver Spring where I purchased art supplies, office supplies, and a couple of books.

Leaving Borders, I found a bench along the bustling promenade and began reading this amazing little memoir by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver. After finishing half of it (and developing a chill as the sun sent a shadow over the bench), I finished it later this afternoon in the comfort of my sunroom on my porch swing.

"Our World" is her gift to her longtime companion, Molly Malone Cook (familiarly known simply as "M." in her poems and essays). Ms. Cook was an artist in her own right: A mover and a shaker in the world of photography as true art. She spent much of her life and energy in Provincetown, Massachusetts as the founder and proprietor of a gallery, then a bookstore, devoted to the promotion of photography as art.

The book shares but a couple dozen of her black and white photos from the 50's & 60's. They are framed with Mary's memoir.

The photos are fantastic. Mary's words are nothing short of her finest poetry. I sat there on that bench, while people past by engaged in the vibrant intercourse of their lives, immersed in the intimate relationship between Mary's words and Molly's photos fighting back tears with every image, every anecdote.

Granted, I have so long loved Mary's poems, that my perspective on this book is already so NOT casual.

I have long wanted to know more about the amazing "M." Yet, I never imagined I would be given this holy glimpse.

If you somehow stumble upon this entry.... Thank You, Mary.