Wild Geese

April is poetry month, and my friend Mia Levitin asked me to create something to accompany an article she wrote about one of our shared all-time favorite poems: Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. 

(This same author inspired another of my designs recently too: Peonies.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

– Mary Oliver

This original artwork is printed on satin paper and mounted on artist-grade, luminous acrylic. Each print is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity with your number in the limited series.

Custom sizes are available upon request.