Upstream: Selected Essays

An unusual medley, but the writer's voice is palpable throughout. I struggle a bit more with prose when it is interspersed with poetic language, and more so with non-fiction analysis of poetry. I flourish when the forms are separate; poem, prose, non-fiction. That being said, I'm glad I read it, and sincerely hope that among Mary Oliver's works there are not just more poems but more short stories because I loved the two included here. I'd also dearly love to track down ‘Our World' because I think I'd enjoy seeing her writing a bit more straight forward memoir. This work did have a bit of that, hints at a traumatic childhood that she escaped via nature and reading/writing, which shaped her life, and the place where she settled later. The analysis of poets she favours ranged from an uphill battle to fascinating for me (I just don't know much about them!). Oliver has very definitive views on how to be an artist, but as I don't claim that label , I can't really argue. Regarding specific chapters: the squeamish and arachnophobic should avoid the one titled ‘Swoon'. ‘Bird' will destroy you in seven pages. 
Nature in fine detail, often the cycle of life and death, are discussed, which includes the death and eating of animals. You've been warned.