Mary Oliver: Starlings in Winter

     In this poem, Oliver begins by describing the birds as acrobats flying through the air with intricacy and grace. She is mesmerized by their movements as they soar through the sky. She then goes to reflect on a message about how even in her times of grief, winter, and an ashy city she thinks back to these beautiful animals. The memories lift her spirits and have her desire that level of flight and freedom. I love her ending line as she writes, "I feel my heart pumping hard. I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbably beautiful and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings. 

    I think that reflecting on these beautiful creatures and seeing them move through the world shows how much freedom the natural world has. During hard times of our lives, just watching the birds can lift our spirits and remind of us what we long to have. How we long to be free of our worries. How we wish to leave our struggles behind. How we wish to live without fear and soar like wings of an eagle. While we cannot ever physically experience the life of a bird, we can use our imagination to lift us out of our slumps in life. To use their grace and freedom as a metaphor of how we should live our own lives. No matter what point we are in our lives there is always opportunity to soar and be free within ourselves.

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