"Mystic Faith in Mary Oliver's Poetics & Personal Practices"

Mary Oliver once wrote, "Maybe the desire to make something beautiful / is the piece of God that is inside each of us." Though never espousing a Christian faith, Mary Oliver presents nature, the spirit, the body, and the divine in her simple but elegant poetry in terms that evoke the Christian mystic tradition. In our personal experiences with beauty and creativity, can we, along with Oliver, enter into a fuller appreciation of what the mystics called union with God?

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Dr. Daniel Gleason grew up in the Philippines living in an environment that fostered his imagination, creativity, and his love for writing. Currently an English professor at Bryan College, Dr. Gleason has previously worked as a cemetery laborer, as a public educator, and as a soccer coach. Dr. Gleason’s scholarly interests include 20th-century American Literature, contemporary poetry, and trauma theory. In the field of creative writing, he writes primarily poetry and has been published in more than a dozen literary journals and magazines across the country. Daniel and his wife, Kathleen, have two young sons, and they live in Dayton, Tennessee.