A pause for poetry . . .

This is the time of year that I volunteer at Camp AmeriKids (click here to learn more). I've been doing this for 16 or 17, or maybe this is my 18th, years. I've lost count. It is a charity that is very dear to me. Following that, I will take a vacation and will return to all my "real world" responsibilities after Labor Day.

In the weeks between, I am going to send you a poem every Monday. For two years, I have been using poetry in my weekly Lectio 360 readings to help attendees spend 30 minutes of contemplative self-care every Friday as they transition from the end of the week to the weekend (click here to learn more). I offer these selections of poetry to you for your own contemplative practice. I encourage you to read them aloud. Note what resonates for you. Do it again, and continue to notice what calls your attention. And again. Take note again. Do it again. Spend a few minutes integrating what has moved you.

I invite you to join my fall workshops -- information to be posted on my website in September -- or to attend my regular Friday 30-minute sessions.

Here, I give you "Breakage"

by Mary Oliver

I go down to the edge of the sea.

How everything shines in the morning light!

The cusp of the whelk,

the broken cupboard of the clam,

the opened, blue mussels,

moon snails, pale pink and barnacle scarred—

and nothing at all whole or shut, but tattered, split,

dropped by the gulls onto the gray rocks and all the moisture gone.

It's like a schoolhouse

of little words,

thousands of words.

First you figure out what each one means by itself,

the jingle, the periwinkle, the scallop

full of moonlight.

Then you begin, slowly, to read the whole story.

~ ~ ~

Peace and love to you in the week ahead.