The Rebellious Curator

From Winter Hours by Mary Oliver(Sept.1935-Jan.2019)

"And I thought: I shall remember this all my life. The peril, the running, the howling of the dogs, the smothering. 

Then the happiness - of action, of leaping.

Then the green sweetness of distance

And the trees - their thickness and their compassion all around."

I first discovered Mary Oliver back in the early 90's when she was required reading for a poetry class I took in college. This was before her work became trendy and over-quoted on Instagram. It was after reading Winter Hours that I decided to go back to writing poetry for myself. But my poetry was not insightful or soul-wrenching like hers. Instead, it was, and still is, as weird and quirky as my assemblages. In fact, strikingly very similar to my assemblages... I have to continue to remind myself if creative work comes from the head and the heart, it still speaks, and sometimes it speaks just for me.