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1. 
   

   BluesClues Officer
   BluesClues · Jan 26, 2018

   So, I 100% forgot about this and I apologize. It has been the week from hell, although at least it's finally over. With that said, I'm introducing you to a poem I'm already familiar with, because I don't feel like digging around for a new one but I really want to post it now that I've remembered.
   
   Also, the first time I heard this poem was at the start of my annual silence retreat several years ago. I sort of need that comfort and familiarity - plus whatever I normally get from the silence retreat - so here you go.
   
   

   It is time now, I said,
   for the deepening and quieting of the spirit
   among the flux of happenings.
   
   Something had pestered me so much
   I thought my heart would break.
   I mean, the mechanical part.
   
   I went down in the afternoon
   to the sea
   which held me, until I grew easy.
   
   About tomorrow, who knows anything.
   Except that it will be time, again,
   for the deepening and quieting of the spirit.

2. 
   

   alliyah Admin
   alliyah · Jan 26, 2018

   Wow, a silence retreat sounds really intriguing Blue and I love Mary Oliver so I'm glad you picked this one!
   
   I'm just going to post some initial thoughts and come back later and post more I guess.
   
   1. I think that it's a good deal that Oliver decided to write a short poem about being quiet -- because a long, extra-verbose poem would not do at all with the theme of this piece. There's something about the simplicity that helps communicate the message clearer. Like maybe silence, and simplicity are getting back to the truth/natural state of the world, that is often over-ran with too many words, and hysterics, etc.
   
   2. Next time I read this I want to look more closely at the time frame and tenses in this piece. Anyone have ideas why it seems to shift back and forth? (ie. First stanza "time is now"... "I said", Second stanza - "had pestered", "I thought" - past tense, third stanza - "I went", "I grew" - time is passing?, Fourth Stanza - "About tomorrow", "Again" - looking towards future) -- Despite the passage of time seeming to happen in this poem, the title claims a particular singular day "swimming, One Day in August" .
   
   3. What is the conflict in this piece? I see a few different options, that are likely interrelated although I'm not completely sure how.
   -For conflict in this piece Oliver names the "flux of happenings" which seems to mean - the business of life. The "heart would break"..."the mechanical part" - which maybe means the unnatural part of life, everything that isn't inherent to life is the conflict or the mechanical part? Interesting.
   
   4. What is the resolution of this piece? Stanza 3 seems to present the resolution to the conflict - to return to the sea, but I'm not sure whether to take the sea as a metaphor for something or not. Oliver seems to like nature and religion so it could be God or just a symbol for all of nature, or silence, or the literal sea. Maybe Oliver finds a sense of the transcendent (to prompt the deepening of the spirit) within nature itself - so nature and God are actually one. I would love to hear other thoughts on what people think the sea is in the poem.
   
   Those are my thoughts for now! Sorry they're a bit scattered (but at least they're in a list so they have the semblance of being organized).

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