Shelter Island Reporter poetry corner: May 18, 2025

IN PRAISE OF THE END

By Bethany Moore

Only love the new

Shoes fresh from the box, waiting for the first day

The robin’s egg inside the nest

A car’s scent, just off the lot

Lionize dawn, dew, and doorway

Claim January first as your favorite holiday

And you will be disappointed

For endings are as common as beginnings

Instead praise the end

Venerate the coat you left on the restaurant chair.

The blue ball cap snatched from your head by the wind

Your favorite sweater worn one last time before being shrunk by the dryer

Glory to the

Coda’s notes as the symphony concludes.

Final brush strokes on taut canvas

Closing words of the novel that guts you

Bless the waiter bringing out espresso and dessert

Relish completing a program– diploma in hand

Laud pulling into your driveway at the end of a prolonged trip

Hallow the breaking a years-long silence with a single postcard wishing you were there

Exalt the

Final infusion and discharge papers

Closing shift of the job you hated

Last student loan payment

We cheer at the finish line for a reason.

Isn’t there something to be said for finality?

For sagging back in a chair

For saying “It is finished”

Islander Bethany Moore, winner of the Bliss Morehead 2025 Poetry Grant, for “In Praise of the End,” is a poet and theologian. The $1,000 grant is awarded to an unpublished poet from the East End each year in memory of Bliss Morehead, creator of the annual Poetry Project program at the Shelter Island Public Library.