I just spent half an hour trying to figure out what book or conversation or article a quote came from. I want to use the quote, but I really want to know what context the writer was writing it in, and what else he said at the same time. The whole story of this collection of words matters to me.
I couldn’t find it anywhere. There is no context. Right now it’s just a group of words, beautifully written, that make sense on their own, but that no longer live as a part of the moment in which they were originally written (or spoken.)
I wrote to Mary Oliver once. I wanted to use one of her quotes as the opening quote for Unfurl. I have always loved this little collection of words, and I had used it as a touchstone for much of the writing of that book so it just made sense to me that I would use it as the opening spell.
The answer came back: no.
It wasn’t Mary who wrote back, it was someone writing for her, and they said (and this is paraphrasing because I can’t find the original email - ironic, right?) that Mary’s poems were meant to be read as whole poems. Taking a piece out took the words out of context and that was the opposite of the point of what she was writing.
So all of those cute Mary Oliver quotes all over everything? She didn’t want that.
I didn’t really get it at the time, but as I look for the home world - the original ecology - of this quote, I feel like I get it now. I miss the days of full bibliographies and no memes. I miss depth and whole poems and whole stories.
People say that we are losing our ability to concentrate. What is lost when we don’t have the ability or the time to read the whole poem or read the whole book? What happens when we don’t have time to understand the nuance and context of where and how and when something was said? What happens to a writer when they realize that to be successful they need to write for meme-ability and quotability?
We get into the mess we are in I guess.
I’m a bit ponder-y tonight, so I’m sending a wish out to you: find something whole to read. Let’s honour the writers and the poets and the thinking behind the words that touch our souls. Is there a quote by Mary Oliver or another poet or writer that you love? Do you know the whole poem? Do you know where those words lived and breathed and where they first had life?
Words are magic, but they are even more so when you understand where they came from and where they belong and what their writer actually wanted to say.
Pay attention. Read deeper. Read the whole poem. Read the whole book. Learn the whole story.
Words might be magic but maybe it’s the context and the nuance and the thoughts - their original ecology - that make them the powerful spells we need right now.
Maybe?
The Whole Story
"Pay attention. Read deeper. Read the whole poem. Read the whole book. Learn the whole story." THIS. All of what you wrote here. It goes very much in line with a little personal experiment I've been doing, which is to read newsletters, blog posts and any longform content SLOWLY. To read it ALL. And now I will pay more attention to the whole piece when it comes to quotes and such, I love the idea of doing a bit of sleuthing to view it in its whole context. ❤️
YES! I feel a little piece of our collective soul withers every time someone writes "one wild and precious life" without knowing the whole poem. 🔥