Campus Silk                 

Cynthia’s form-fitting silk dresses

struck to her body like plastic wrap as she

pirouetted across campus in pointe shoes 

intentionally faced against wind gusts

pushing auburn strands of hair over cheeks

attracting an audience both men & women

lounging on the quad’s turf, eating fast food

lunches, listening to transistor radios, preparing

for exams, or writing to significant others—

past and present—in leather bound journals

filled with narrative poetry, whimsical sketches,

detailed shopping lists & occasional birthdays;

night & day, twelve months each year

she carried a collapsible umbrella, ready

to spread & protect her gorgeous locks

from rain & snow, trading silk summer

dresses for diva scarves that showcased her

face like a multi-colored picture frame.

Cascadia

Whitewater frothing

like hydrogen peroxide

foam sliding between rocks

boulders gurgling, gushing,

below natural bridges

linking embankments

on unstable shores where

wooden piles driven 42 feet

into mud, sand, bedrock and silt

once stood tall and defiant

yet remain like ragged stumps

torn off below kneecaps

where grubs burrow between spikes

as bright yellow birch leaves

float overhead then settle

like a golden patchwork quilt

upon stones in a dry ice waterway

swirling at the base of a ghost pier.

Dharavi Wall Reclaimed

Rickety realism centered

a rainbow fire escape

between two gigantic heads

Mother Theresa calls out

habit covering snowy egret hair

left hand cupped over her cheek

knotted veins and wrinkled skin

accentuated by a decaying hotel’s  

brick buttresses and drippy motor—

the graffiti virtuoso’s preferred canvas.

Facing the Calcutta nun on the right

Mahatma Gandhi calmly listens

to her whisper litanies and preach

about merits of suffering and her

“call within a call” as cars below burn rubber

do doughnuts, and emit smoke, delighting

penniless pedestrians with inner city theatre

sans Chelsea Square nosebleed seats;

pervasive, sustaining, his presence

outshines all street thespians and saints.

Cosmos Conductors

Stratosphere lights glimmer

dying amid comets & meteors

racing for eternal magnificence;

Saturn’s rings appear as ridged

as steel-hooped cage crinolines

relentlessly orbiting the planet.

Stargazing eyes wander, locate

ices, silicates, rocks & gasses

winking & twinkling the heavens

like angry sparks between wheels

& tracks from lost stellar railroads

barely even flickering at dawn.

Time elapses & spectacles dim

we embrace falling stars, suck on

helium balloons & talk like high

wire munchkins anxious to fly

on any trapeze without net, certain

as Galileo, optimistic as Carl Sagan.

Like fresh water washing filth & grime

off coal miner bodies, sunbeams splash

onto alley ways & trash cans, illuminate

abandoned train depots; foreboding shadows 

ground nocturnal astronomers, provide a hiatus

telescopes at rest & celestial secrets on hold.

French Doors

We slipped behind Raylene’s

family room French doors

backs to the wall, she embraced

my inexperience like a prize fly-ball

caught at Yankee Stadium, repositioned

my shoulders, easing them into her own,

kissing my neck, leaving a hickey

I wore like a badge of courage

provoking classmates’ consternation who 

confined young love to dreams & imagination.

From French doors to French kissing

we advanced without rules, ignored

norms, believed our world would endure

more than an evening; Raylene pressed

her face to mine, lost both pearl earrings

in throes of passion, found days later

when her mother vacuumed the carpet,

stroking shag pile, uncovering secrets

that had become common knowledge:

Raylene’s door evolved & swung both ways.

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Sterling Warner’s Brief Biography

An award-winning author, poet, and former Evergreen Valley College English Professor, Sterling Warner’s works have appeared many literary magazines, journals, and anthologies including Danse Macabre, Trouvaille Review, Lothlórien Poetry Journal,Ekphrastic Review, andSparks of Calliope. Warner’s collections of poetry/fiction include Rags and Feathers, Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Edges, Memento Mori: A Chapbook Redux, Serpent’s Tooth, Flytraps, Cracks of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction 2019-2022, Halcyon Days: Collected Fibonacci, Abraxas: Poems (2024), and Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Presently, Warner writes, hosts/participates in “virtual” poetry readings, turns wood, and enjoys retirement in Washington.