I appreciate this essay, and the clarification between doing and being, so central to Mary Oliver’s work. Thank you for the photo credit to Barbara’s Savage Cheresh (my mom). Could you also credit the painting on the cover of House of Light? The artist is Arthur Cohen, who painted iconic sky-and-bay paintings of Provincetown. Thank you!
"I must have read it 1000 times that month turning 60, which was August 2009. I took it with me in the car, the breakfast table. We had it by the bed, walking the dogs in the morning. It was particularly those last two poignant rhetorical lines: 'Tell me what is it you're doing with this one wild and precious life of yours?'"
On Thursday night, Nyad mentioned "the Mary Oliver poem" in a conversation with one of her biopic's producers. A minute or so later, she says she decided to make the Cuba swim the goal of "my 'one wild and precious life.'"
So, no one who hadn't already known "The Summer Day" — or Nyad's exploitation of it — would have realized "one wild and precious life" came from the poem.
I wonder if Nyad got your message and is trying to pretend — she pretends a lot — that "one wild and precious life" isn't connected to "the Mary Oliver poem."
you're a whistleblower!!!
good for whistleblowers!!!!
happy to be here ;)
Terrific work, keep it up!
Thank you so much for reading, Ciarán!
I appreciate this essay, and the clarification between doing and being, so central to Mary Oliver’s work. Thank you for the photo credit to Barbara’s Savage Cheresh (my mom). Could you also credit the painting on the cover of House of Light? The artist is Arthur Cohen, who painted iconic sky-and-bay paintings of Provincetown. Thank you!
Hi again,
I stumbled another example of Diana Nyad mangling "The Summer Day." In 2019, she told a group (https://youtu.be/jYQmEgVn-70?si=ReycTWkOOBUD3yTb&t=2276)
"I must have read it 1000 times that month turning 60, which was August 2009. I took it with me in the car, the breakfast table. We had it by the bed, walking the dogs in the morning. It was particularly those last two poignant rhetorical lines: 'Tell me what is it you're doing with this one wild and precious life of yours?'"
I suspect "1000 times" may be an exaggeration.
On Thursday night, Nyad mentioned "the Mary Oliver poem" in a conversation with one of her biopic's producers. A minute or so later, she says she decided to make the Cuba swim the goal of "my 'one wild and precious life.'"
So, no one who hadn't already known "The Summer Day" — or Nyad's exploitation of it — would have realized "one wild and precious life" came from the poem.
I wonder if Nyad got your message and is trying to pretend — she pretends a lot — that "one wild and precious life" isn't connected to "the Mary Oliver poem."
https://www.youtube.com/live/J2szUIG7z8s?si=XvZm6xvUmF1WnheP&t=539