Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

Mary Oliver’s line comes from her poem “Sometimes,” written in the late phase of her career when she was frequently asked to articulate the practical, ethical “use” of poetry. Oliver, long associated with close observation of the natural world (especially in New England), often framed attention as a spiritual discipline rather than a mere aesthetic habit. In “Sometimes,” she offers a compact, almost liturgical set of imperatives—notice the world, allow yourself to be moved by it, and then translate that experience into language. The phrasing reflects Oliver’s characteristic blend of plain diction, wonder, and an implicit argument that art and moral life begin in sustained noticing.

The three sentences outline a poetics and an ethics. “Pay attention” names the foundational act: disciplined, receptive presence to what is real. “Be astonished” insists that attention should remain open to wonder—an emotional and spiritual responsiveness that resists cynicism and habit. “Tell about it” turns private perception into shared meaning, suggesting that testimony (poetry, storytelling, witness) is a responsibility as well as a pleasure. The sequence implies that a good life is not built primarily from grand theories but from repeated acts of noticing, being moved, and communicating—an everyday practice that links inner life to community through language.

“Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”