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by Catherine Marenghi

This article is part of an ongoing series on poets and poetry with roots in San Miguel.

San Miguel de Allende has cast its spell on poets for centuries, even those who are briefly passing through. These occasional visitors include some of the most famous and admired poets in the world — including Mary Oliver.

The much beloved Mary Jane Oliver (1935-2019) was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and the National Book Award in 1992. In her 37 books of poetry, she famously found inspiration in nature and had a lifelong habit of solitary walks in the wild.

Born on September 10, 1935, in Maple Heights, Ohio, she began to compose poetry at an early age. Oliver's work is characterized by close attention to nature, spirituality, and the human experience, often blending careful observation with reflection. Her highly relatable poetry is as likely to be found on an inspirational poster ("What are you doing with this one precious life?") as it is in a library or on a local bookstore shelf.

Although she shunned the literary spotlight and kept a private life, Oliver gained a wide readership for her poems, which are frequently taught and quoted. She lived for many years in Provincetown, Massachusetts, with her partner, photographer Molly Malone C.

Here are some of Mary Oliver's most famous and widely quoted poems:

• "Wild Geese" (Dream Work, 1986) – Probably her most beloved poem, offering comfort with its famous opening: "You do not have to be good."
• "The Summer Day" (House of Light, 1990) – Ends with her iconic question: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?"
• "When Death Comes" (New and Selected Poems, 1992) – A meditation on mortality and living fully.
&• quot;Morning Poem" (Dream Work, 1986) – A luminous piece about daily renewal.
• "In Blackwater Woods" (American Primitive, 1983) – From her Pulitzer Prize–winning collection, about love, grief, and letting go.
• "Sleeping in the Forest" (Sleeping in the Forest, 1972; later anthologized) – A hymn-like poem of unity with the earth.
• "Poem" (New and Selected Poems, 1992) – A brief but profound reflection on noticing small beauties.
• "Swan" (Swan: Poems and Prose Poems, 2010) – A later work that returns to her themes of nature as spiritual teacher.
• "Dogfish" (Dream Work, 1986) – Known for its blend of observation and life lesson.
• "Song of the Builders" (Why I Wake Early, 2004) – A gentle, humble vision of interconnectedness.

The San Miguel Poem

Oliver is known to have visited San Miguel several times as a writing retreat, although the exact dates of her visits are unclear. In her 2010 collection of poetry, Evidence, her poem "First Days in San Miguel de Allende" stands out. Unlike her poems that convey an exuberant engagement with the natural world, Oliver now finds herself a stranger in a foreign country, grappling with issues of religion and mortality in this visceral poem.

 
First Days in San Miguel de Allende

1.
The flagellated Christ
is being carried
to San Miguel de Allende
He must be very heavy

yet the carriers persist
upon the sun flashed road
and the people follow

in the same way that people would seek
a river heard of but never yet found.
They are that thirsty.

2.
In the garden the jacaranda
is dropping
its blue festivities
everywhere,

the wren
is carrying sticks
into the hollow
behind the elbow

of the metal horse
that stands
in the bougainvillea
at the edge

of the singing pool.
I have come, for the first time, to Mexico.
And what has happened
to that intense ambition

with which I always awake?
Soaked up
in the colors, stolen
by the bloody Christs

of the churches,
by the children laughing
at my meager Spanish.
It is said

that when you rent a house here
the owners are not responsible
for church bells, barking dogs,
or firecrackers.

It is early in the morning.
Antonio is sweeping the blossoms away.
I am feeling something, incredibly,
like peace.

The wren is busy, my pencil idle.
The silks of the jacaranda, as though
it is the most important work in the world,
keep falling.

3.
The tops of the northbound trains are dangerous.
Still, they are heaped with hopefuls.

I understand their necessity.
Understanding, however, is not sharing.

Oh, let there be a wedding of the
mind and the heart, if not today
then soon.

Meanwhile, let me change my own life
into something better.

Meanwhile, on the streets of San Miguel de Allende
it is easy to smile.
"Hola," I say to the children.
"Hi," they say, as I pass

with my passport, and money, in my pocket.
 

Not surprisingly, Oliver cannot help but see the natural beauty in the jacarandas and bougainvillea. Yet she is also aware of the perilous journeys of migrants clutching the tops of northbound trains – the infamous "La Bestia." She sees horror in the "flagellated Christ," the Lord of the Column statue with blood streaming down its back as it is carried on its annual trek from the Sanctuario of Atotonilco to the San Juan de Dios Church in San Miguel.

She is also uneasy about her "meager Spanish," and nervously aware of the money and passport in her pocket, which she clutches tightly as she passes children on the street.

She is both watchful and wary. She is "soaked up" in the colors of San Miguel, whether they be the seductive purple petals of the jacarandas or the red of "bloody Christs." She is also troubled by her lack of ambition, her "pencil idle."

However, she would not be Mary Oliver if she did not also offer a ray of hope and even redemption. She moves from judgment of others to turning inward and reflecting. She writes: "Oh, let there be a wedding of the / mind and the heart, if not today / then soon. / Meanwhile, let me change / my own life / into something better."

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Catherine Marenghi is a local poet, novelist and memoirist who has been active in the San Miguel literary scene for more than a decade. She has published three poetry books, a memoir, and a historic novel. A native of Massachusetts, she has made San Miguel her permanent home.

www.marenghi.com

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