A recent post got me thinking about my own favorite book inscription.
When we were working on Shifting Gears, I jumped at the opportunity to correspond with Molly Malone Cook, Mary Oliver’s agent and partner, to get permission for the two Oliver poems we wanted to use.
The Journey expresses the theme of our book (although we discovered the poem after the theme was set). We published the poem in full and used it as the organizing principle behind the book’s structure.
Oliver’s In Blackwater Woods is a particularly 
meaningful poem for me and the inspiration and structuring principle for the essay I contributed to Shifting Gears.
Molly said that Mary would have to read my essay and a sample of SG before she’d consider giving us permission to use her work. She granted permission, and upon publication,
I sent her a couple of copies of SG along with her latest book of poetry, and asked for an autograph. Her book was returned to me with the lovely inscription you see here.
I treasure it, because I admire Mary Oliver and her work so much, and because her few kind words gave me enormous affirmation during a profoundly transformative time in my life.
When I think of what I would take from my house if I had to flee in the face of fire or hurricane, this book would come way before most of what I own.
MAD about Words
is the brainchild (and heartchild) of
Mary Ann de Stefano
