FULL SNOW MOON - MY FAVORITE MOON POEMS

Poet Kathryn Stripling Byer

My all time favorite moon poem was written by  Kathryn Stripling Byer. 

Full Moon

Full moon says I am

over the pinebreak, says give me

your empty glass, pour

all you want, drink, look

out through your windows of ice,

through the eyes of your needles

observe how I climb, lay aside

what you weave on your looms

and see clouds fall away
like cold silk from your shoulders,
be quiet, hear the owl coming back
to the hayloft, shake loose
your long braids and rise up
from your beds, open
windows and curtains, let light
pour like water upon your heads,

all of you women who wait, raise
the shades, throw the shutters
wide, lean from your window ledge
into the great night that beckons
you, smile back at me
and so quietly nobody can hear you
but you, whisper, "Here am I."

Click below to download a recording of Kathryn Byer reading "Full Moon"

from BLACK SHAWL., LSU Press

• "Full Moon" [mp3, 870kb] to hear Kathryn Stripling Byer read it.

My second most favorite moon poem is  also written by Kathryn Stripling Byer

"Empty Glass" from WILDWOOD FLOWER, LSU Press

"Empty Glass" [mp3, 527kb] To hear Kathryn Stripling Byer read it.

In EMPTY GLASS she writes of the dark night, dark moon,

reminding us that the moon is up there, even if we cannot see it.