Mary Oliver and the God of Dirt

The god of dirt
came up to me many times and said
so many wise and delectable things,
I lay
on the grass listening
to his dog voice,
frog voice; now,
he said, and now,
and never once mentioned forever

I wrote about the life and legacy of poet Mary Oliver in my Lion Lamb blog after hearing of her death from cancer earlier this week. Oliver gave us extraordinary insights into the ordinary rhythms of the natural world, although she encouraged us to pay attention in every aspect of our daily lives. in one of the legion of tributes to Oliver the writer suggests that she wrote "secular psalms" which is both a homage and contrast to the psalms of the Judeo-Christian bible. I might quibble a bit with this notion because so many of her poems are deeply spiritual, even though not religious, but it is a helpful reflection.

I don't want you just to sit down at the table.
I don't want you just to eat, and be content.
I want you to walk out into the fields
where the water is shining, and the rice has risen.
I want you to stand there, far from the white tablecloth.
I want you to fill your hands with the mud, like a blessing.



 I went looking for my copy of a wise little volume called God of Dirt: Mary Oliver and the Other Book of God by Thomas W. Mann -- and eventually found it! The Christian tradition has long held that there are two books through which God is revealed, the book of creation and the book of scripture. As the title suggests, Oliver had a remarkable ability to awaken us to that other book. Mann quotes Oliver:

Now I think there is only one subject worth my attention and that is the recognition of the spiritual side of the world and, within this recognition, the condition of my own spiritual state. I am not talking about having faith necessarily, although one hopes so. What I mean by spirituality is not theology, but attitude.

In a way Oliver's poems/psalms remind us that Christianity is an earthy religion. The biblical first person is Adam, a name which means groundling (hence my blog) or earthling, or dirt-person. Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, is the new Adam and the old Adam's skull is often placed at the foot of the cross in depictions of the crucifixion from earlier centuries. And of course there are many of the 150 psalms of the bible which give praise to both creator and creation.

As we remember Mary Oliver we can all ponder these two books and how she opened the window for us to catch a glimpse of the God of dirt.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
   O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty,
²   wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
³   you set the beams of your^* chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your^* chariot,
   you ride on the wings of the wind,
⁴ you make the winds your^* messengers,
   fire and flame your^* ministers...
...¹⁰ You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
   they flow between the hills,
¹¹ giving drink to every wild animal;
   the wild asses quench their thirst.
¹² By the streams^* the birds of the air have their habitation;
   they sing among the branches.
¹³ From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
   the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

from Psalm 104

Here is my Lion Lamb blog from yesterday on Mary Oliver

https://lionlamb-bowmanville.blogspot.com/2019/01/mary-oliver-and-paying-attention.html