This month's Moon Prize, the 109th, on today's Wolf Moon goes to Melanie Choukas-Bradley's magical poem "If I have loved you" summing up the wealth and rush of our all too short lives.


If I have loved you

by Melanie Choukas-Bradley


Aren’t there those who so purely share your stratosphere
That you need not friend them on Facebook
Or even call when you’re in town?
What’s to be gained from rehashing old magic
Reminding you both that you have moved on?
If I have loved you, I hope you know

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Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a naturalist and award-winning author of seven nature books, including City of Trees, A Year in Rock Creek Park, Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island and The Joy of Forest Bathing. She began writing poetry during the pandemic and had the good fortune to discover Beate Sigriddaughter’s Writing in a Woman’s Voice. The site featured several of her poems during 2022, including “How to Silence a Woman,” which won the February Moon Prize. “If I have loved you” was first published on New Year’s Eve and “Storyboards on the Diagonal” was published on New Year’s Day 2023.