"Almost anything is too much. I am trying in my poems to have the reader be the experiencer. I do not want to be there. It is not even a walk we take together"

This quote by Mary Oliver talks to her desire to develop a space for the reader to experience her poems. She wants the reader to be the one to translate and experience the poem, rather than her being the one to assist the reader through it. She does not wish to exist in the poem, as she believes that nearly anything is too much. This recommends that she wants to leave the poem open to interpretation, permitting the reader to take their own journey through it. By not existing in the poem, she is allowing the reader to take the lead and develop their own experience. This quote speaks with Mary Oliver's desire to create a space for the reader to explore and analyze her poems, without her being present.