L.J. Moore's Blog

Thank you to the California Natural Diversity Database for featuring my art on their News blog! See the work here: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/News

After Osip Mandelstam’s “Stalin’s Epigram” We live without understanding our country’s divideWe hear everyone, everything, all at once.If a word is uttered, it is gut punched,inside-outed, presented in reverse – as a trump. He points all directions but himself, waving small, soft fingershe has slid into women without permission, grinning.He repeats lies until they become...Continue reading »

i worry about you going aloneyou could break a leg out thereno one would know still I goopen the door and point my car northbeing lost and alone in the woodsis never aloneis never lost i am scanning the wireless menuswhere is the “gentle snake catcher asleep on the sand” podcast?where is the “she who...Continue reading »

two pale dotsswim below the surfaceopal eyes a fish of my childhoodbeneath the pier in the murk swaying forward and back with each surge i am nine or ten forage among the rocks on the jettybuilding drop fishing lines from lost tackle find a place among the Mexican families at the end of the pierglittering...Continue reading »

my home ison fire again in sonoma a neighbor drivesa tractor across another neighbor’s fenceso his goats, chickens, horsescan flee 450 miles south we coughon orange and yellow and redthe simplified color codes marching towardchoking purple still I walk outside beforethe temperature rises to 99… 100… 109I have to get some air evenif it aches I wave at...Continue reading »

Amor Paco Paco spots the squat, rolling shadow crossing the deck and takes cover behind a coiled rope, watching as the captain disappears through the cabin door and slams his way down the companionway into his quarters. It is a balmy day, sky clear, sea ruffled with a mild, steady breeze, but Paco shivers. The...Continue reading »

The sound woke her from a nap. She lay curled on back of the living room couch where a pillow had been placed so she could look out the window while basking in the sun. But there was rarely sun in this new place, and the view now was of the soggy, leaf-strewn backyard bounded...Continue reading »

Lou Lou was a wolf, but she looked to everyone else like a little girl.

Lethe stands behind a wire fence, staring at me with piercing hazel eyes. He is bald with skin so red and wrinkled his head resembles a healing wound. Still, we creep closer to one another until we crouch on either side of the fence, almost touching. Hello, I say. Lethe says nothing audible, but presses...Continue reading »