Comments on: Oh, Won’t You Come Celebrate?

By: Deborah

Deborah — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:01:01 +0000

Lady’s dad was Giovanni DeCarolis but he became John DeCaroli upon registering at Ellis Island on May 3, 1906. We found his name, after hours of research at the National Archives in Pittsfield, MA, on the passenger list from a boat which arrived from Genoa. Such brave souls!

By: E

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:38:43 +0000

Also, Lady’s middle name was DeCaroli? Was that the original family name rather than just Caroli?
I wish I knew more about the evolution of my family names.

By: Anastasia

Anastasia — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:37:22 +0000

Love those quotes, Ms. Paige. Thanks for sharing.

And I didn’t know about the Mary Oliver – Edna St. Vincent Millay connection. Sisterhood IS everywhere you can shake a stick, what a good way of phrasing it.

By: P C d-lite

P C d-lite — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:19:28 +0000

i LOVE the sound of wild geese

By: E

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:31:04 +0000

I’d put my mother at the top of my list, and coincidentally, International Women’s Day always falls on her birthday.

By: Paige

Paige — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:16:27 +0000

BTW–did you know Mary Oliver once worked as secretary to the sister of Edna St. Vincent Millay, herself a fabulous and fabulist sister/artist/poet/burner of the candle at both ends? Sisterhood is everywhere you can shake a stick.

By: Paige

Paige — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:14:29 +0000

I love MIA and Mary Oliver, and I’m quite sure I would have adored your grandma, too. Sisterhood rocks.

Two of my favorite Mary quotes:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”

from “The Summer Day” (online here: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html)
and

“I bend my heart toward lamentation
Where, as the times implore our true involvement,
The blades of every crisis point the way.

I would it were not so, but so it is.
Who ever made music of a mild day?”

from “A Dream of Trees”, online here:
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/mary_oliver/poems/15851