Lenard D. Moore

Writing the Glorious Day

In the forty-year-old oak, a squirrel cheep-cheeps. Could it chirp? Or is it a bird? There’s a bird nest up the oak. There’s a squirrel nest, too. Finally I observe the squirrel’s mouth moving. Now I can go back indoors, because the unfamiliar sound sent me flying outdoors. Yet, I stood as still as the oak.

I wonder how I only recently realized that sound came from a squirrel. I love to watch the natural world. Here comes another squirrel, chasing the one calling. Is it mating season? The day stretches.

cool day
a neighbor's truck door closes
before the hush

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About the Author

Lenard D. Moore is an internationally acclaimed poet and anthologist whose works have been published in more than sixteen countries and translated into more than twelve languages. He is the founder and executive director of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, co-founder of the Washington Street Writers Group, and the longtime executive chairman of the North Carolina Haiku Society.

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