VOICES-Mortality as Medicine: David Keplinger

“Loving What is Mortal”: On Mary Oliver and the Poetry of the Willing Heart

In this talk, Professor David Keplinger of American University will discuss his longtime friendship with Mary Oliver while looking into what she called “the spiritual purpose” of her poetry, which, in part, included the ways we might willingly subject our hearts to brokenness as we engage with the natural world. The talk will include selections from Oliver’s poetry, as well as selections from David’s recent book, “Ice.”

David Keplinger is Professor of Literature and Director of Creative Writing at American University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of eight collections of poetry and six volumes of literary translations from the Danish and the German, done in collaboration with authors from those languages. His work has won awards including The Colorado Book Award, The Rilke Prize, The Emily Dickinson Award, and his first book won The T.S. Eliot Award, selected by Mary Oliver.