Why Blackwater Pond?
I don’t remember the circumstances under which I first met Mary Oliver on the page, but I remember the poem: “The Journey”. The truth she spoke resonated with me, buried itself in my heart and became a part of me. Later, when one of my daughters was going through a rough time, I wanted to share this truth with her, so I painted a picture of a road with branches from the previous night’s storm strewn across it. Then, I copied the poem into the center of the painting.
Truly, as the poem says, the only life we can save is our own. Years later, when I was going through difficult times with my marriage and frustration with my profession, my daughter mailed a card to me with the same poem enclosed. I hadn’t even recognized how badly I needed to save myself. Poetry speaks volumes, and Mary Oliver speaks to me.
Mary Oliver wrote several poems set at Blackwater Pond.
“In Blackwater Woods” from Oliver’s book American Primitive (1983) says the “river of loss whose other side is salvation” leads us to the three things we have to do to live in this world. Sometimes, we all have to let go.
“At Blackwater Pond” was first published in 2006. The speaker’s daily sips of the water “[wake] the bones” and whisper, “Oh what is that beautiful thing that just happened.”
“Mornings at Blackwater” discusses the past and present and the importance of choice. The invitation she issues is one we should not ignore. These are the words I kept close to my writing desk:
“The past is the past, and the present is what your life is, and you are capable of choosing what that will be … So come to the pond … and put your lips to the world And live your life.”
We are all influenced by our past, but we should not be bound to it or by it. We all face loss but are offered salvation. Our choices direct our lives. Beauty awaits us, if we will take that first sip and welcome it.
In The House at Blackwater Pond, both main characters face the metaphorical ghosts of their past and journey into a future where they find beauty and harmony and choose to live their lives more fully by taking a chance on love.
Buy books by Mary Oliver here: https://maryoliver.com/poetry/
Find poems mentioned in this entry here (and other places on line):
https://wordsfortheyear.com/2014/03/28/in-blackwater-woods-by-mary-oliver/
https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2013/02/mary-oliver-mornings-at-blackwater.html
https://www.best-poems.net/mary_oliver/the_journey.html