Julie L. Moore

Joy

The cup of life is not so shallow
That we have drained the best.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fireflies flashing over hip-high corn–
breathe deep
as if it’s the first time this joy unfurls
like a ribbon from the pith beneath your ribs.
Witness dusk now shading in corners
of the sky, indigo shadows
tunneling with the sun. Taste
a miracle tonight. Taste its sacred
nectar. Hear the low whine of the owl.
Hold the jewel of the night
in your open hand.

Julie L. Moore is the author of Slipping Out of Bloom, forthcoming from WordTech Editions, and the chapbook, Election Day (Finishing Line Press). A Pushcart Prize nominee and recent recipient of the Rosine Offen Memorial Award from the Free Lunch Arts Alliance in Illinois, Moore has also won the Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize from Ruminate: Faith in Literature and Art. She has contributed poetry to Alaska Quarterly Review, Atlanta Review, Blue Earth Review, Briar Cliff Review, Chautauqua Literary Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Cider Press Review, Cimarron Review, Dogwood, Flint Hills Review, Free Lunch, The MacGuffin, Sou’Wester, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Valparaiso Poetry Review, among many others. She lives in Ohio, where she directs the Writing Center at Cedarville University. Her website is www.julielmoore.com.