Last Tuesday, we watched “Mary Oliver: Saved By the Beauty of the World,” an American Masters program on PBS. For the first time ever, I watched TV with my notebook open in front of me, taking notes. It was touching to see so many pictures of her young, wide open face. And the lineup of celebrities who helped pay tribute! Stephen Colbert, Ada Limón, Oprah, Jason Reynolds…wow.
Looking back on my notes, I realized that the were enough turns (or segments) in Mary Oliver’s life for a haiku sonnet: four 5-7-5 haiku ending with one 5 or 7 syllable couplet. And so a new form is born: the biographical haiku sonnet! My poem goes from childhood, to teen years, to adulthood. Next comes the death of her beloved, Molly Malone Cook, and Mary Oliver gets the last word with a line from her poem, “Wild Geese.”
