“Ordinarily I go to the woods alone,
***
I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds
or hugging the old black oak tree.
I have my ways of praying,
as you no doubt have yours.”
— Excerpts from "How I Go to the Woods" by Mary Oliver (2012)
Oliver (1933-2019) wrote sensitively-observant poems about nature and life. She suffered an abusive childhood in which she would escape to the woods to find solace, spiritual strength and, eventually, poetry, which she credited with saving her life.
She would explore the outdoors alone with a small notebook and jot down floods of impressions. She famously challenged her readers by asking a haunting question: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 and the National Book Award in 1992.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 20 and 19, 2026.)