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We’ve got an unofficial Mary Oliver fan club here at Sojourners. One of my colleagues calls Oliver “the patron saint of paying attention.” Another colleague has a bumper sticker on her car that says, “Honk if you’re letting the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” I keep a framed print by my desk inspired by Oliver’s poem “First Snow.” Which is a way of saying: We were delighted to learn there’s a new Mary Oliver documentary, out now in select theaters (and don’t worry—it will be widely available on PBS after August 25). In her review, film columnist Abby Olcese admits that Oliver’s poetry with its wild geese and grasshoppers and admonitions to be astonished can feel “preposterously sentimental” at first blush. But while Oliver may seem like an ethereal earth mother, untethered from the real world, there’s more to her poetry—and Oliver herself—than we often give her credit for. For example, I was surprised to learn that Oliver smoked profusely, had a painful childhood, and was once bitten by a beaver while trying to help it build a dam (Note to self: Do not interfere with other soft animals, however cute they may appear). Elsewhere this week: Georgia Coley defends calling herself a “queer Christian” after a recent op-ed in The New York Times stirred up controversy. There’s a new film about Dante Alighieri’s struggle to write his epic poem, but, um, abandon all hope ye who enter there. One of our editorial assistants is thinking about God’s word to Elijah while living in a city where military planes regularly roar overhead. And finally, we have sad news about the death of child advocate and theologian R.L. Stollar, who leaves behind a “a legacy of tenacious and occasionally combustive activism.”
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