Long Life: Essays and Other Writings

Mary Oliver. Da Capo Press, $22 (101pp) ISBN 978-0-306-80995-8

""I would rather write poems than prose, any day, any place"" writes Mary Oliver, ""Yet each has its own force."" Her Long Life: Essays and Other Writings intersperses a few verses among prose pieces as various as ""Dog Talk,"" ""Emerson: An Introduction"" and ""Where I Live."" As ""Sand Dabs, Nine"" puts it, ""The energy of attempt is greater than the surety of stasis.""

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