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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 19 January 2019
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver dies at 83

By HILLEL ITALIE shaking; I am flashing like at Case Western University
Associated Press tinsel." and Bennington College
NEW YORK (AP) — Mary Like her hero Walt Whit- among other schools, al-
Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize-win- man, whom she would call though much of her work
ning poet whose rapturous the brother she never had, drew upon her childhood
odes to nature and animal Oliver didn't only observe and the landscape around
life brought her critical ac- mushrooms growing in a Provincetown.
claim and popular affec- rainstorm or an owl calling "I am not very hopeful
tion, has died. She was 83. from a black branch; she about the Earth remain-
Bill Reichblum, Oliver's liter- longed to know and be- ing as it was when I was a
ary executor, said she died come one with what she child. It's already greatly
Thursday at her home in saw. She might be awed by changed. But I think when
Hobe Sound, Florida. The the singing of goldfinches we lose the connection
cause of death was lym- or, as in the poem "White with the natural world, we
phoma. Flowers," overcome by a tend to forget that we're
"Thank you, Mary Oliver, for long nap in a field. animals, that we need the
giving so many of us words ___ Earth," Oliver, who rarely
to live by," Hillary Clinton Never in my life spoke to the press, told Ma-
wrote in a tweet. Ava Du- had I felt myself so near ria Shriver during a 2011 in-
Vernay quoted from Oli- that porous line terview for Oprah Winfrey's
ver's poem "Praying" and where my own body was "O'' magazine.
fans online shared their fa- done with "If I have any lasting worth,
vorite lines. and the roots and the stems it will be because I have
Author of more than 15 po- and the flowers tried to make people re-
etry and essay collections, began member what the Earth is
Oliver wrote brief, direct ____ meant to look like."
pieces that sang of her wor- Her poetry books included She wrote often of mortal-
ship of the outdoors and "White Pine," ''West Wind" ity, but with a spirit of grati-
disdain for greed, despoil- and the anthology "Devo- tude and completion. In
ment and other human tions," which came out in In this Nov. 18, 1992 file photo, Mary Oliver appears at the Na- "Circles," she pronounced
crimes. One of her favorite 2017. She won the Pulitzer tional Book Awards in New York where she received the poetry herself "content" not to live
adjectives was "perfect," in 1984 for "American Primi- award for her book "New and Selected Poems." forever, having been "filled"
and rarely did she apply it tive" and the National Book Associated Press by what she saw and be-
to people. Her muses were Award in 1992 for "New and lieved. In "When Death
owls and butterflies, frogs Selected Poems." In 1998, ple Heights in suburban Vincent Millay's papers. Comes," she hoped that
and geese, the changes she received the Lannan Cleveland, and endured While in Austerlitz, she also at the end of life she could
of the seasons, the sun and Literary Award for lifetime what she called a "dys- met the photographer Mol- look back and see her-
the stars. achievement. Her fans functional" family in part by ly Malone Cook — "I took self as a "bride married to
"In my outward appear- ranged from fellow po- writing poems and build- one look and fell, hook and amazement."
ance and life habits I ets Stanley Kunitz and Rita ing huts of sticks and grass tumble," Oliver later wrote ___
hardly change — there's Dove to Hillary Clinton and in the nearby woods. Edna — and the two were part- When it's over, I don't want
never been a day that my Laura Bush. St. Vincent Millay was an ners until Cook's death, in to wonder
friends haven't been able "Although few poets have early influence and, while 2005. Much of Oliver's work if I have made of my life
to say, and at a distance, fewer human beings in in high school, Oliver wrote was dedicated to Cook. something particular, and
'There's Oliver, still standing their poems than Mary Oli- to the late poet's sister, Oliver studied at Ohio State real.
around in the weeds. There ver, it is ironic that few po- Norma, asking if she could University and Vassar Col- I don't want to find myself
she is, still scribbling in her ets also go so far to help us visit Millay's house in Auster- lege, but never graduated sighing and frightened,
notebook,'" Oliver wrote in forward," Stephen Dobyns litz, New York. Norma Millay and later scorned much of or full of argument.
"Long Life," a book of essays wrote of her in The New agreed and Oliver ended her education as "a pre- I don't want to end up
published in 2004. York Times. up spending several years established collection of having simply visited the
"But, at the center: I am Oliver was a native of Ma- there, organizing Edna St. certainties." She did teach world.q

Anthony Rapp hopes he did his part to 'change the culture'

NEW YORK (AP) — Ac- In 2017, Rapp alleged that allegations were true.
tor Anthony Rapp said he Spacey made an unwant- More than year later, Rapp
came forward with sexual ed sexual advance during is proud of the decision to
misconduct allegations a house party in 1986 when tell his story. "I know that it's
against Kevin Spacey be- he was 14 and Spacey something that needs con-
cause he feared assaults was 26. Rapp sought legal tinued movement forward
could "keep happening" if counsel at the time, but no and I'm going to keep do-
he said nothing. charges were filed. ing my best to be a part of
The younger actor spoke The incident was dormant the movement forward,"
about the incident on the until a flurry of sexual mis- Rapp said.
red carpet for the second conduct allegations sur- "I was just concerned that
season of his streaming se- faced about Harvey Wein- that it would be something
ries, "Star Trek Discovery" stein, prompting Rapp to that could keep happen-
on Thursday in New York. come forward. Spacey re- ing, so if I could do some- Actor Anthony Rapp attends the "Star Trek: Discovery" season
He said he hoped he did sponded that he did not re- thing that could make a two premiere at the Conrad New York on Thursday, Jan. 17,
his part to "change the cul- member such an encoun- difference, I was eager 2019, in New York. Associated Press
ture." ter but apologized if the to."q