Illuminated

The night of the closest supermoon
in 70 years, I scrolled through Facebook
posts of friends’ photos. Peter’s was best:
the moon floated above a red barn
in Roaring Spring like an illuminated balloon
without a string. I’m ashamed to say how long
it took me to look outside at the real thing.

Originally published in Northern Appalachia Review, March 2022. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Erin Murphy is the author of more than a dozen books, most recently Fluent in Blue. This poem is a demi-sonnet, a seven-line form she invented. Her work has appeared in The Best of Brevity, Ecotone, Women’s Studies Quarterly, and elsewhere. She is professor of English at Penn State Altoona. www.erin-murphy.com