‘Dream Work’, a collection of 45 poems, follows both chronologically and logically Mary Oliver’s American Primitive, which won her the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1983. The depth and diversity of perceptual awareness – so steadfast and radiant in ‘American Primitive’ – continues in ‘Dream Work’. Additionally, she has turned her attention in these poems to the solitary and difficult labours of the spirit – to accepting the truth about one’s personal world, and to valuing the triumphs while transcending the failures of human relationships.