I encountered Mary Oliver through her poetry during my last semester of college. Up until that point, my college career had focused on professional writing per my degree requirements. I chose to take what I considered to be a bonus course to finish out my creative writing minor. In this poetry course, I rediscovered my innate writer voice, which had been silent for almost three years. Along with the other poets I studied, Mary Oliver reacquainted me with a way of writing I almost forgot.