This month's Moon Prize, the 115th, goes to Melanie Choukas-Bradley's haunting poem "The Water Cooler."

The Water Cooler

by Melanie Choukas-Bradley

 
Gather round the water cooler
For the latest on the latest mass shooting
How many dead, how many critical
 
Let’s put our heads together and get the facts
Where the children hid, how many rounds
What the cops did and didn’t do
 
The victims have our thoughts and prayers
They have our attention
We are talking about it, talking and talking
 
Until talk turns to the next one


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A different version of "The Water Cooler" was first published in New Verse News.
 
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 has featured several of her poems, including “How to Silence a Woman,” and “If I have loved you,” both of which won Moon Prizes. Her poetry has also appeared in New Verse News.