The poet Mary Oliver has a new book out, it’s called “Devotions,” and it’s a fat, big and lovely collection of her poems.

Mary Oliver and I spend a few minutes with one another every morning, I read a poem or two to Maria, or sometimes, just to myself. Using my new audio feature (below) I’m going to read the poems aloud that I share, for those of you who would like to hear  a poem read.

This is the poem I read this morning, it’s   called “Self Portrait.”

“I wish I was twenty and in love with life

and still full of beans.

Onward old legs!

There are the  long, pale dunes, on the other side

the roses are blooming and finding their labor

no adversity to the spirit.

Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea

shining like a song, like a body

I want to touch.

though Im not twenty

and won’t be again but ah! seventy. And still

in love with life. And still

full of beans. –

Mary Oliver     

Audio, reading the poem.