“The tradition of the poet / artist goes back at least to William Blake and his “Tyger.” Moore carries it on with her knock–out combo of verse and linocuts.”
~Carl Little in The Café Review, Spring, 2023

LESLIE MOORE     printmaker     poet

MONARCH

too long
have i lingered
in this stage
caterpilling along
eating milk
eating weed
feeding off
the same pale plant
filling my gut
with fodder

i’ve stopped

only to shed
skin
as i fatten
over and over
five instars
five ages
eating my shed skins
behind me

time
to spin
go
inside
dis-
solve

i want to emerge shape shifted

pump wings full of life’s fluid

spread them blaze orange

flamenco black and fly

flower-to-flower

seeking only essence

sipping only ambrosia

Leslie Moore

"No creature is beneath her notice, each has a story to tell, each is a kindred spirit, a teacher who informs her crafts."

~Kristen Lindquist, author of Tourists in the Known World: New and Selected Poems