Mary Ruefle’s work can be compared to that of contemporaries Mary Oliver, Sharon Olds, Anne Sexton, and Dean Young.

Dean Young’s poetry often depicts deeply observed moments of the everyday akin to those of Ruelfe’s. For instance, “Interference & Delivery” (1998) uses a quiet precision to describe a difficult phone call between two longtime friends. This calls to mind the silent rebellion of a student ignoring a teacher in class in “The Hand” or an audience member falling asleep at a symphony in “Lullaby” (2013). Supporting this connection, Ruefle’s 2000 book of poetry, Post Meridian, even contains the dedication, “for Dean.”

Mary Oliver’s poems link to Ruefle’s through their reverence and love for nature. Just as “The Hand” offers a vision of nature in the robin who ruffles its feathers in the spring air to a student who is tired of class, so too does Oliver’s “What Is It?” (1990) connect people to moments in nature that give greater meaning to beauty, life, and change.