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Kimberussell.com

a blog by Kim Russell

October 7, 2025

A Clarion call

I’m still reading Mary Oliver’s Devotions, just very slowly. As in, I took a break this summer. This morning I returned to this practice and the first poem I read was At the River Clarion. The whole poem hit me hard, but especially these passages:

Mary Oliver Devotions, with a bookmark in it on top of a notebook. My purple fountain pen is next to it. The cover has a photo of a woman spoonfeeding a small bird.

If God exists he isn’t just churches and mathematics.
He’s the forest, He’s the desert.
He’s the ice caps, that are dying.
He’s the ghetto and the Museum of Fine Arts.

He’s van Gogh and Allen Ginsberg and Robert Motherwell.
He’s the many desperate hands, cleaning and preparing their weapons.
He’s every one of us, potentially.
The leaf of grass, the genius, the politician, the poet.
And if this is true, isn’t it something very important?

And this:

There was someone I loved who grew old and ill.
One by one I watched the fires go out.
There was nothing I could do

except to remember
that we receive
then we give back
.

We receive then we give back.

How can I give back in this time when I am emotionally shackled by hopelessness in this world? This is something that I desperately need to work out.

Posted In: Reading · Tagged: devotions, faith, mary oliver


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About Me

I've been blogging for over twenty (2 decades! 2-0!) years and I'm apparently one of the few over-50 female bloggers who haven't sold out to THE MAN yet; hence this blog remains quirky, homespun, and unprofitable. No big. However, if you're from Disney, Doritos, or Dave Matthews Band, I'm open to talk about selling out.

I live in Southern New Jersey with my husband WM, and our dog Murphy. I'm an adult who likes Disney but not a Disney Adult. I used to work a fun (really!) office job in Philadelphia, but since March of 2020 I'm a work from home hermit. So if you're looking for a childless, slightly round, marginally boring GenX woman's blog to follow, you've come to the right place! :)

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