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The Truro Bear and Other Adventures

Poems and Essays

Author: Mary Oliver

A collection of new poems and beloved classics about creatures of all sorts; a companion volume to Owls and Other Fantasies and Blue Iris

From a poet who teaches us the beauty and magic of the natural world comes a reminder that this world includes “the creatures, with their / thick fur, their shy and wordless gaze. Their / infallible sense of what their lives / are meant to be.”

In The Truro Bear and Other Adventures, Mary Oliver brings together ten new poems, thirty-five of her classic poems, and two essays, all about mammals, insects, and reptiles. The award-winning poet considers beasts of all kinds: bears, snakes, spiders, porcupines, humpback whales, hermit crabs, and, of course, her beloved and disobedient little dog, Percy, who appears and even speaks in thirteen poems, the closing section of this volume.

As Renee Loth has observed in the Boston Globe, “Mary Oliver, who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1983, is my choice for her joyous, accessible, intimate observations of the natural world . . . She teaches us the profound act of paying attention.“

“Oliver has the ability to transform everyday life events into something extraordinary. . . . [She shows us a natural world that is too often forgotten, in all its humor, grace and absolute loveliness.”]
—Emily Nicklin, Nature Conservancy

“Oliver, one of the country’s most popular and highly awarded poets, presents . . . beautifully tempered lyrics celebrating the splendor of the living world . . . Oliver’s signature tropes are as vital as ever-her beloved birds, dogs, snakes, and ocean are all summoned to capture the breathtaking glory of life.” —Booklist

“The work of Mary Oliver is one of those rare and lovely convergences. She is a lyric artist with a riveted eye and an enormous heart, one of the nation’s great spiritual sentinels.” —Brian Doyle, Christian Century

“These poems sustain us rather than divert us. Although few poets have fewer human beings in their poems than Mary Oliver, it is ironic that few poets also go so far to help us forward.” —Stephen Dobyns, New York Times Book Review

Reviews

Review: Library Journal starred review - August 15, 2008

"From the small, the curious, and the commonly overlooked—grasshoppers, snow crickets, and whelks, for example—to the wild and intimidating, like coyotes, and, of course, the possibly mythical bear that haunts the Truro woods, the natural world is made more real and dangerous and, yet, inexplicably inviting in these poems . . . There is even a baker's dozen of poems about Percy, her dog, a lovable recurring character in her work. Recommended for all contemporary poetry collections."