The poem Backyard by Mary Oliver struck me because the poem personally reminded me of compost gardening when I was in middle school. Our school aimed to build a small compost garden outside one of the classroom windows. We spent so much time and effort to bring compost items like bananas, bundles of grass, and other fruit waste after school. After we placed our items in the soil, we manually turned the soil, generating heat and bacteria to mix the soil's nutrients. After days and weeks of no growth, we spotted little buds of flowers that finally began to grow. The school's first compost garden was successful, and I was proud to be a part of the community effort.
Mary Oliver brought that special memory back for me as she described a section in her backyard having "dead stuff… without direction management supervision". Her dislike for the mess turns out to be a sanctuary for the birds, as the birds love to pick blackberries from this pile of dirt. Mary Oliver alludes to composting as an area in her backyard that was described as ugly but turned into something beautiful and loved by other animals. Backyard is to the point with the reader's intention to reflect on a time when they contributed to creating something meaningful. I think of this poem through activities like thrifting, upcycling, and composting because these activities benefit nature and our sense of creativity and individuality.
There's a grand takeaway from this poem regarding the mission to find the beauty in everything life gives us. When contributing to my school's compost garden, I was skeptical of the whole process and ashamed of how terrible the garden smelt. However, after a few weeks, the compost turned into an impressive garden with vegetation and plants symbolizing determination. I love that Oliver challenges us to appreciate the little things and find a positive outlook on nature and life.
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