Dog Songs: Poems

I have loved Mary Oliver poetry for ages but never gotten around to reading this collection. Shortly after I lost my own dog best friend, though, I knew I had to. Reading her precious words brought me so much comfort. They leave little paw prints all over our hearts that are there even after they pass and Mary gets that and captures the wonderful essence of having and losing a dog in one’s life in her work.

Very nice selection and a handy gift book to keep on hand...

I read and reread and then gave a few for Christmas presents.Brilliant from the heart little essays and poems.Her words will be enough to touch you deeply.

These beautiful thoughts are wonderful for all of us who love our dogs and have lost them. Mary expresses our love for them and their love for us in beautiful, poetic stories we can all relate to. Wonderful reminders of how much our dogs give to us and help us be better humans.

This is a beautiful book, especially for, but not limited to, animal lovers.

Mary Oliver is so reliably brilliant. To find her wise and heartful take on dogs and their generosity in our lives is such a treat. Passages bring tears to my eyes. Language so precise and glorious that I feel hugely grateful to have the book in my hand and a dog by my side.

ilove Mary Oliver and this did not disappoint

Mary Oliver's DOG SONGS is a pure delight to read, particularly if you have had the good fortune to share your life with a dog or two - or perhaps even several, over a lifetime. Oliver has obviously done so, and she immortalizes a few of her favorites here: Percy, Ricky, Benjamin, Luke, and Bear. Her 'conversations' with Ricky, in pieces like "The Wicked Smile" and "You Never Know Where a Conversation Is Going to Go" made me smile. And "Every Dog's Story," about doggy nightmares and finding "a safe place," rings true and familiar. Just yesterday afternoon our little Emmy ran for her own "safe" place - a soft-sided 'cat cube' under a chair in the darkest corner of the guest room - when a frighteningly loud thunder and hail storm passed through.The Benjamin poems were especially affecting, both because of that dog's mysterious fears (brooms, kindling) from an unknown previous life, and also because of John Burgoyne's marvelous pen-and-ink drawings of that Beagle-like face and form. A dog who looked so much like my Daisy (1997-2011). And for anyone who has lost a loved dog, "Her Grave", "Percy (2002-2009)", and "The First Time Percy Came Back" will surely choke you up.The two short essays here, "Ropes" (about a time when dogs "roamed freely") and "Dog Talk" (an elegy to Ben and Bear and their wolf-like origins and instincts) are also especially effective, especially if you can remember those days when dogs were free to come and go about town. I was reminded of Willie Morris's lovely little memoir, MY DOG SKIP.I've wanted to read DOG SONGS ever since it first came out. Now I have. It's a little book; you can read it in about a half hour. But it will be one of those books I'll come back to many times, I'm pretty sure. I see now why it was a national bestseller. Its subject, its charm, its deceptive simplicity. Loved it!- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

Just found this author. Loved her description in her stories.Will look for more of her writings

I ordered this for a friend when his dog died and I received this thank you : “Never was a book so apt! Just what I needed. Heartfelt thanks for the solace it brought.” And later, “Very impressed by her devotion to dogs.”

Literary dog lovers will be most entertained!

Está bonito pero esperaba más poesía !!

The books a gift to a dog loving family who enjoyed the insight of the author