CBG Discussion Questions

Bookshop Santa Cruz Community Book Group
Discussion Questions for
New and Selected Poems Volume One by Mary Oliver
and Turtle Island by Gary Snyder
Discussion on Tuesday, April 20th at 7:30pm

1. Using an illustration by Tom Killion, Gary Snyder’s "Front Lines" was written on a poster to preserve The Pogonip Park in Santa Cruz as public land. How does a poem work as a statement of social protest?

2. How do Snyder and Oliver use nature to center and revitalize the self? What lessons can be learned from nature through the poet’s voice?

3. Compare Oliver’s “The Swan” and Snyder’s “As for Poets.” How are they similar and different in their attitude and ideas?

4. Both writers make reference to the truths of Buddhism and draw analogies from nature to present these truths. Compare Oliver’s “The Buddha’s Last Instruction” with Snyder’s “Avocado.” What truths emerge for you?

5. Snyder explores the value of labor in “Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen.” How do diction and images influence the poet’s perspective?

6. After reading “While Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field,” how does Mary Oliver’s poem honor and embrace the woman and her place in nature?

7. Select one poem from the two books that you really love and be prepared to share why you love it. (Tom Marshall’s is "The Bath" by Gary Snyder; Julie Minnis’s is “The Swimming Lesson" by Mary Oliver.)