Listen. Are you breathing just a little and calling it a life?
Meaning
Oliver challenges the habit of living cautiously and on autopilot, offering shallow breaths as a metaphor for half-lived days. Take it as a prompt to check in: notice where routine has numbed you, and do one thing today that makes you feel fully awake.
Source: West Wind (1997), "Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches?"
About the author
Mary Oliver (1935–2019) was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. She is known for plainspoken nature poems that celebrate attention and wonder.
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