Blood Moon

harder to walk away

than not…

falling leaves moon

                            --Tony Williams

moan and wail of wind

scrape and shiver of dry leaves

silent moon above                            

                            --Katherine Quevedo

blood moon

leafless canopy

banshees cry

                            --Maria DePaul

midnight 

the bare branches balance 

the autumn moon 

                            --Minal Sarosh

first frost moon

the last look

in her eyes

                            --C. X. Turner

Night Heron

 

in the brackish, briny edge

of the tidal channel

under the waning light of a quarter moon

 

a black-crowned night heron

on yellow legs

under tucked gray wings

 

stands on driftwood

waits for a fish

or a frog

 

there’s a splash

for an instant, he holds a mantis shrimp

in his thick black beak

 

dawn comes

with the chill

of autumn fog

 

and he disappears

the steady beat of wings

all that’s left

                                   --Andrea Wyatt

Lamentation
  
Screech
owl
calls twice.
His keening?
My wild call farewell,
my final vibrato of loss.

                                --Karla Linn Merrifield