Dog Songs (poetry) by Mary Oliver
Illustrated by John Burgoyne
Penguin Books, 2013
Mary Oliver’s poems begin in the small everyday moments familiar to all dog lovers. Through her extraordinary vision these observations become higher meditations on the world and our place in it.
A neighbor left this book at my front door when she learned that I was grieving through my final days with a beloved dog. Sitting on the floor by my pup, I absorbed Mary Oliver’s artistic expression of my own shuffling emotions.
Oliver writes with a sensitivity that comes from a lifetime of having loved dogs. She captures the right word or phrase in apt description of our canine companions. She has a gift for writing simply yet poignantly.
Dog Songs remained unfinished on my nightstand for weeks after I said goodbye to my pup because I couldn’t bring myself to finish it alone. But when hubby and I brought home our next family member—a senior dog on borrowed time who is far more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside—I picked up Dog Songs again and re-acquainted myself with Oliver’s admirable acceptance of life and loss.
Treat yourself to Dog Songs when you want to be reminded of the joys and sorrows of loving dogs.
Who do you share your life with today? What canine love will you never forget?
