Thirst

Now in paperback: the national bestseller from the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet

"To read Thirst, Mary Oliver's most recent book of po¬ems, is to feel gratitude for the simple fact of being alive." —Angela O'Donnell, America Magazine

Thirst, a collection of forty-three new poems from Pulitzer Prize–winner Mary Oliver, introduces two new directions in the poet's work. Grappling with grief at the death of her beloved partner of over forty years, she strives to experience sorrow as a path to spiritual progress, grief as part of loving and not its end. And within these pages she chronicles for the and#64257;rst time her discovery of faith, without abandoning the love of the physical world that has been a hallmark of her work for four decades.

"Mary Oliver moves by instinct, faith, and determina¬tion. She is among our and#64257;nest poets, and still growing."

—Alicia Ostriker, The Nation

"It has always seemed, across her [many] books of po¬etry, . . . that Mary Oliver might leave us at any minute. Even a 1984 Pulitzer Prize couldn't pin her to the ground. She'd change quietly into a heron or a bear and and#64258;y or walk on forever."

—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Thirst, a collection of fortythree new poems from Pulitzer Prizewinner Mary Oliver, introduces two new directions in the poet's work. Grappling with grief at the death of her beloved partner of over forty years, she strives to experience sorrow as a path to spiritual progress, grief as part of loving and not its end. And within these pages she chronicles for the frst time her discovery of faith, without abandoning the love of the physical world that has been a hallmark of her work for four decades.