Often when I wake in the middle of the night I get up and read in the dark on my kindle. I love reading poetry on my kindle simply because it is a great place to get poetry, which my bookstores don’t always have on the shelf, and I can re read as often as I like. Finding that single phrase that has been crafted for maximum impact by the poet is often the key that triggers a deep breath and the relaxation that I need to get back to sleep. Last night I was reading Mary Oliver’s Long Life, and this was the magical big breath and release from tension.

“ All the eighth notes Mozart didn’t have time to use before he entered the cloudburst he gave to the wren.”