Sitting With Mary Oliver

 Sitting With Mary Oliver

  Sometimes someone drops

  words into my life that break

  my heart so thoroughly I can

  barely breathe. And I must live

  in pieces, with no hope

  for the life that came before,

  until those same words love

  me into a new wholeness.

  I admit to jealousy, wishing that

  I, too, could paint just a few words

  capable of turning a woman like me

  inside out, but my life has not yet

  gone that way. For now, maybe

  you and I can sit with Mary Oliver and

  share a cup of awe.

  - Carol Barrow

  Everything That Was Broken

  Everything that was broken has

  forgotten its brokenness.  I live

  now in a sky-house, through every 

  window the sun. Also your presence.

  Our touching, our stories.  Earthy

  and holy both. How can this be, but

  it is. Every day has something in 

  it whose name is Forever.

  - Mary Oliver*

*Everything That Was Broken, from Mary Oliver's latest book, Felicity, which you can buy here or at your local bookstore.