In honor of National Poetry Month I share with you “Wild Geese” — written and read by Mary Oliver

This is one of my favorite poems from one of my favorite poets.  This poem reveled poetry in a whole new light and converted me to a poetry fan. For this I am incredibly thankful.  

'dress of poetry ...'

Because of this poem, and a 
poem penned by an insanely great writer and friend, inspired me to create my 'dress of poetry ...', one of the few pieces from my dressproject that can be worn.  

Click here to learn the story behind my 'dress of poetry ...'

WILD GEESE
by Mary Oliver

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 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.

hopefully this video works, if not here is the link: 

https://youtu.be/T_nKg3TBzpU?si=MLPmx3CjLQ9SEl_u

here is the 'Wild Geese' panel in progress - on the ironing board

the story behind: the 'dress of poetry ...'

"You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves."  Mary Oliver

'dress of poetry ...'  the story:  

'dress of poetry ...' 2007

this dress comes from my rediscovery of poetry and a deep desire to celebrate this revival. As I student I did not understand much of the poetry that I was taught, hence I didn’t read poetry once I was done with school. So for decades I avoided poetry but thanks to the magic of poet Mary Oliver, I wasn’t a lost cause.

me with author/poet Heather Panahi

It was near the start of the ‘dressproject’ and a friend introduced me Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese, and I fell in love. I suddenly saw that poems had so much to offer, they were paintings, but instead of paint and brushstrokes they used words, creating emotion, still-life and stories, little snippets of life and our surroundings. It was during this budding love affair that my dear friend and fine author, Heather Panahi, wrote a poem inspired by my dressproject and with that I knew that I was to make a dressproject dress/sculpture of poetry.

For the next weeks I could be seen carrying mountains of poetry books where ever I went. I read and researched many poems for this dress, choosing the ones that either represented a passage in my life; such as my experience in high school when I had the honor of hearing Gwendolyn Brooks read her poem We Real Cool, or ones that constituted a new discovery which spoke to me; like The Secret by Denise Levertov. I was immersed in the world of imagery, alliteration and rhyme and loving it.

my dad with me before the opening

As I collected more and more poems I decided to make this dress be one that I could wear, and this still is the only dress from my dressproject that can be worn. I was intrigued by the idea of wearing the poems, being surrounded and embraced by all the wondrous words. As the word spread that I planned to wear my ‘dress of poetry …’ to an opening reception friends became curious. They asked me if I was going to produce a book of the poems. They explained that I would need something so that people will be able to read the poems that they had watch me collect for months. My answer to this inquiry was a resounding ’no’. I explained that I had designed the dress so that the poems were printed on panels which people could lift up to read.

part of fashion show in SOWA

To this my friends laughed and reminded themselves that I had not grown up in the Boston area; then they explained to me, ‘no Bostonian is going to touch you or the dress, even if it is just to read the poems.’ They were quasi-correct, it was only later in the evening that some folks worked up the nerve to read my dress, and I believe that was thanks to the open bar.

' Upon further Consideration'
at Regis College, 2011

Since the opening reception the ‘dress of poetry ….’ has inspired myself and others in numerous venues, and has lead to other poetic projects. In 2012, I had the honor of working with the Attleboro Public Library and the Attleboro community , creating the collaborative installation, the ‘birds of poetry’. During the project, the ‘dress of poetry’ held court in the library as the ‘birds of poetry’ took flight through the library’s atrium.

'poetic' 4 dec. 2013
part of my decemberdresses series 

The ‘dress of poetry …’ cemented my personal love of poetry. Through its creation and its exhibits I have discovered more and more wonderful poems, and I have witnessed the power of poetry, in children, in adults, in students and in myself.

holding court at the
attleboro Public Library

'birds of poetry ...' 2012

'bird of poetry ...' 2012

 links to related blog posts mentioned above:

Fun and Fashion in SOWA

'the dress to the rescue' . . . a tale of loss and redemption via the dress

"Upon Further Consideration: what tells a story" at Regis College

Mary Oliver reading 'Wild Geese' 

First day of the Birds of Poetry install

The Peace of Wild Things
  WENDELL BERRY
mixed media illustration of another one of
my favorite poems ... but I have so many!!!

peace, va

the birds fly again!!!!

U 2 can make one of these!!!

I am so excited to announce that once again I will be creating an installation of birds!!!  birds of blessings!!!

I have been asked by the Common Street Community Church in Natick to lead the community in creating these 'birds of blessing' to fly in the church's sanctuary.

We are kicking off this wonderful project, tomorrow at the Natick Earth Day.  I will be manning the bird table starting at 11am by the church on the common.  

This is a project was designed so anyone and everyone can participate, and participate either a lot or just a bit. The workshop will run from 11-3pm.  I will be there with bird and wing templates, endless materials to cover the birds.

But for those who can't join us tomorrow, here are instructions to make your own birds, and keep an eye on this blog and my facebook page as I will be announcing other workshops and opportunities to make a bird of blessing.

But for those who can't stop by tomorrow,

 here are the instructions  . . . . 

CLICK here to get the PDF of this template

This link should take you to a PDF which hopefully is the correct size (first time posting a PDF online :) ~ the body fits on an 81/2x11 piece of paper - regular printer paper.  

Once you get the template print it and cut it out.

examples of different types of recycled cardboard

 Use any cardboard that you have around the house. Just not too thick so that it is hard to cut. 

Position template on cardboard 

Then hold template in place, trace and then cut out

cardboard bird and template

 Now here is the FUN part - look around the house and through your recycling to find paper with which you will cover your bird.  Look for interesting texture, type and/or graphics.  For this project I plan to use a more limited palette ~

  black, white, grays, cream and browns 

so keep that in mind when hunting.  Below are pictures of examples of materials.

The inside of security envelope - wonderful patterns!!

bl/wht maps

pages from old white pages, the comics, magazines or sheet music.  Also I went to the dump and found old cookbooks, poetry books and nursery rhymes, giving their pages one more life.

Whatever paper you choose you will use it to 'paper mache' around your bird's body. This will give the bird a little more strength and cover any graphics that maybe on the cardboard.  This will also give the birds a consistent look when they are together.

Whatever paper you pick tear it into small pieces. so whatever is on the paper becomes more of a pattern than readable text.

For paper mache you need a thin paste - I recommend either the traditional paste of flour and water with a little salt or wallpaper paste or a white glue like Elmer's watered down.  This is not an exact science, find a consistency that you are comfortable to work with.  Just not too watery or the paper will not stick. 

You will want to cover your work space - here I used a cut open brown paper bag.

Now you can attach the pieces, covering the entire bird

For curves and corners, like the tail, you can cut the paper and fold it over in sections.

Arrows (hopefully u can see them:) point to places that I cut into the paper

then fold sections over.

The phonebook pages had these page marker which I cut out and added to the bird as graphic accents.

Once your bird is entirely covered you can hang it to dry. If you can't hang it just let it dry flat but turn it occasionally so that is does not stick to paper - you can lay the wet bird on aluminum or wax paper.

If the cardboard you use has folds . . 

Reinforce the folds with smaller flat pieces of cardboard on both sides of fold.  Staple the pieces over the fold. 

You will be covering the birds with paper mache so the bumps and staples won't show and the bird will be more stronger.  Once reinforced, paper mache away!!! 

Now for the Wings . . . .

The wings are made from white paper or brown paper - old envelopes, misprinted computer paper, old homework sheet or the inside of a brown paper bag.  You would like one of the sides of the paper to be  plain - because this is where you will put your mark!!!  

make your wing 3" - 31/2" wide.  The length can wary according to your paper but it would be good to be at least 10" long. (You can get a set of wings out of one piece of 81/2" x 11" paper.)

When you start to put your poetry/blessing onto the wing - leave about 3" blank at the top of the wing. 

Here I copied an Emily Dickerson poem with a black pen.

What you put on the wings is up to you.  These birds will be carrying  blessings, prayers and words of the heart. The wings are a place where your creative self can take flight, the sky is the limit!!!

After writing the poem I trimmed the bottom of the wing to suggest flight.

At this point if you want them to be part of the installation you can mail your bird bodies and or wings (please do not fold them) to Ian @ Common Street Community Church 

13 Common Street, Natick, MA 01760 or me at my studio:  

Birds of Blessings, Virginia Fitzgerald, 25 Washington Ave., Natick, MA 01760

If you wanted to make one to have in our home or studio or office I will show you the last steps.

you need 2 wings, the same size and you will trim the bottoms as I did in this photo.

then line them up together with the text facing each other

insert the top of the bird body in between the wings, so the underside of the wings is showing. 

you don't want to go to far into the bird's body, just enough so that the wings will attached to the body.

make sure that the wings are lined up - this will  ensure that when you staple on the wings that you will be stapling both wings

Take your staple from the bottom of the bird body and staple the wings.  You will need a regular stapler into which you can fit the bird's body, not a small one.

you want to staple both sides of the wings - front and back with one staple if possible.

I use three staples to attach entire wings.

You attached the wings with them straight up from the body of the bird so when you set the bird upright the wings will arc down, giving a sense of flight. 

Now you can hang it anyway you wish.  Because of the design of the wings, they will flutter in a breeze, so keep that in mind when you are deciding where to put it.