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From Cork with Love Adventure

Adventure with Mary Oliver

·47 min·4 clips
Paul O'Mahony writes to Mary Oliver's agent for permission to record her poems and receives a firm refusal.
The episode opens with Paul O'Mahony reading a 2018 email he sent to Mary Oliver's agent, Regula Nwetsli, requesting permission to record Oliver's poems for non-commercial projects, and the agent's refusal. He then transitions into reading Oliver's poem 'The Journey,' framing it as a gift. O'Mahony shares excerpts from Oliver's prose about habits and ceremony, highlighting how patterns reveal us. He continues reading several poems, including 'Wild Geese,' 'The Swan,' and 'When Death Comes,' the latter dedicated to a friend named Clare. Midway, he reveals that Mary Oliver died recently, on January 17th, prompting him to pull out his copy of her 1992 collection 'New and Selected Poems,' which won the Pulitzer Prize. He discusses how he has annotated the book over decades, dating poems and marking favorites with ticks, noting he first read it in 1998. O'Mahony reflects on the poems' themes, distinguishing between those about nature and those directly addressing the human condition. He reads 'On Winter's Margin' and 'A Letter from Home,' focusing on the line 'She knows how people always plan to live their lives and never do.' The episode concludes with him considering recording more of Oliver's nature-focused poems and acknowledging the poet's lasting impact on his life.

As heard by us

A permission denial turns into an intimate reading of Mary Oliver.

Paul Omani shapes the episode around a small but telling turn: an April 18, 2018 email to Mary Oliver's agent asking permission to record her work, the same-day refusal, and the shift from that dead end into a gift of readings and attention.

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Why you'd press play

If you enjoy poetry with a permission request attached, this one has your name on it.

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