Seen through the eyes and sensibilities of poet Barbara Hagerty, an October night is a gathering of images. Here she invites us watch with her as autumn convenes its visions under the light of the moon. Close your eyes after you read this. What do you see?

“Cold October Moon.” Image by Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr.

Damselfly

How now late goldenrod,
monofilaments of the moon
tufting bridesmaid’s hairbrush.

The wind poured wine tonight,
wound down the lavender-dark road.
The sky was a brazier instantly,
a blaze of garlanded girls,
iron torches, medieval, an arc
of young men and a bridegroom
ascending an October hillside,
a glow, an assembly of white ibises
and wedding guests
in this Indian weather
of dozing grasshoppers.

High arc, and candle-moon,
and now I’m solitary
in the quiver of Sand Creek,
and down crest paper lanterns.
Adjournment of the tide.

This is the hour of now I lay me down,
night a prayer rug
bending toward morning beatitudes.
Awake in this damselfly moment.

Published with the poet’s permission.

Barbara G. S. Hagerty is a native of Charleston, South Carolina. Her poetry publications include two chapbooks—The Guest House (2009) and Motherfish (2012)—both from Finishing Line Press. Her first full-length book of poems, Twinzilla (a 2013 winner of the Hilary Tham Capital Collection competition) was published by The Word Works in early 2014. Awarded the 2010–2012 Fellowship in Poetry by the South Carolina Arts Commission, she is also the recipient of a fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She serves as a board member of the Poetry Society of South Carolina. She has worked as a photographer, curator, and teacher of poetry and creative nonfiction, and has published several nonfiction books. Long active in organizations that benefit women, Barbara is a past board member of the Center for Women and the Sophia Institute (which cultivates wisdom and mindfulness, and upholds the principles and ideals of the sacred feminine). She holds an MA in Creative Writing from The Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars.