William Rieppe Moore
William Rieppe Moore is from Richland County, South Carolina, and moved to Unicoi County, Tennessee in 2012 with his wife. His poetry received a Pushcart Prize nomination from American Diversity Report, finalist honors in Driftwood's 2022 In-House Poem Contest, and can be found in James Dickey Review, Still: The Journal, Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, Terrain.org, and elsewhere.
Oosterneck, Tennessee
The field beside the sunken bridge where an albino trout
wades in currents—turquoise,bronze, and flash of mercury,
has the green of water. The fishdyed by what it lingered quick-
beside, like the field—a knoll upthat’d be stained by the Milky Way,
cheesecloth-glazed in its blanchedterrain. Those meteors started
firin’ out hither and yonto remember the dark ground
while cicadas and crickets wereplayin’ band for a night better ‘n
a meal of bacon and fried beansor new taters in middlin’ meat.
Still darkness rose around us up past the bear wallow and on up.
wades in currents—turquoise,bronze, and flash of mercury,
has the green of water. The fishdyed by what it lingered quick-
beside, like the field—a knoll upthat’d be stained by the Milky Way,
cheesecloth-glazed in its blanchedterrain. Those meteors started
firin’ out hither and yonto remember the dark ground
while cicadas and crickets wereplayin’ band for a night better ‘n
a meal of bacon and fried beansor new taters in middlin’ meat.
Still darkness rose around us up past the bear wallow and on up.