The Treasure Hunter

by Abigail Moma

if he is the treasure buried in the field,

then i am the woman with splintered hands

who lives in an old shed, who has sold all

just to wake up on this precious soil

to dig and dig until the sun starts to yawn

and the stars start to sing and the moon

starts to pour his liquid ore from another

country onto the fading earth.

and when I find him, hidden in the belly

of this rejected ground, it is always

only a piece of the whole, so that

in the morning, i must begin again,

as if nothing was found, as if

the myriad of holes meant nothing

in light of the unending sea of dust

that dances and teases and coaxes me

out from the covers into the unsleeping

cathedral of night.

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Abigail Moma lives in Decatur, Illinois with her husband, cat, and their business, The River Coffee Company. Her poem, Song of the Water Lilies, was shortlisted for the 2017 Montreal International Poetry Prize, and in 2023 and 2024, two of her books of devotions and poetry were published, titled The Good Portion: Poetry and Reflections and Come Away, My Love: The Call of the Bridegroom. Besides this, she has had poetry appear in Ekstasis Magazine.