Long Island, March 7, 2023
Blinded, buried, bald,
worm moves upward,
has known the dead and neglected,
discarded and disgraced.

Without a plan,
worm moon is worm-tied to earth,
tired, at the end of its life,
lifespan leading to doom.

Imagine, living only a season,
waking up in a suburb,
dying in a city, slugging through slush,
gardens covered over, steel and soot,

that day when lemon-like eggs
were seeded, both male and female,
that earthworm egg, as all eggs were,
before our parcels were paved and sown.

STEFANIE MAURA is a librarian and poet who lives and works on Long Island. Her poems have been published in Southword, Moonstone Press, Big City Lit, Silver Birch Press, Halfway Down the Stairs and other journals and anthologies. As the founder of the Writing Yoga® method, she has facilitated workshops at universities and retreat centers including the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.