Abby Harding

WINTER ISSUE #15 POET

Abby Harding writes from her home in a small farm town in central Illinois. Her work draws on the natural world, focusing on the intersection of grief and hope. When she’s not writing or gazing into the middle distance, she and her husband homeschool their three children and care for a small menagerie of animals (six chickens, a guinea pig, and one geriatric cat). Her first poetry collection, Some Days Are Sandstone, debuted in October 2024, and a book of haiku is scheduled for publication in early 2026.

TWO HAIKU

As dusk fades to gray,
a slim fingernail of moon
smiles up at Venus.

On seeing the winter moon:

     Does she shine brighter
in the cold, or do I slow
     down enough to see?