Sterling Warner


Shoals

Weeping willow trees
stretch over identical 
riverbanks, branches 
cast shade in shallows
where skeeters glide across
glassy waters, stare
at their reflections 
& observe tiny minnows
surface to feed on algae
drifting seeds & brine shrimp
sending competing ripples
shore to shore dissipating
downstream where rapids 
churn, cascading into fjords.
 


Bigfoot Legacy

Pushing past cypress, fir & spruce,
tuffs of coarse hair cling to foliage
a neckless head rests on Joan Crawford-like 
shoulders…wood knocking trees, tossing rocks,
lodgepole pines mark territory
crisscrossing saplings, weaving designs 
fashion modest, bipedal humanoid nests
less intricate than architectural spiders;
Yeti smiles, winks & sighs at its cousin
through Himalayan blizzards, Pacific tempests
acknowledges both must remain invisible
to perpetuate enigmatic blind devotion.

Howls, squeals, grunts & screeches bounce
off forest walls, reach out to other solitary nomads.

Northwest passageways part like conifer
Red Seas when Sasquatch approaches, its 
daily exodus sparks mythic curiosity 
activates imaginations, teases Olympic Mountain 
tourists whose cellphone cameras flash night
& day attempting to photograph glimpses
of a legend—heartbeats hidden behind a hoax—
promoted by Bigfoot Crossing street signs 
encouraged via Tillamook giftshop memorabilia: 
dashboard figurines that glow in the dark, 
plaster of Paris casts of immense ape-like toes,
pungent-leathery musk oil to masque tracker’s scent.

 

Abitàre

Far from pines, maples, 
birches, and oaks

a Puget Sound kingfisher rivets two 
front toes into a weathered pier
as the back two toes dig into weathered logs
grasp shipworms, grubs & larva 
once deeply burrowed into the pilling 
now topside after a king tide ebbed;
out of its element, longing to strike
dead wood like a flag bird percussionist
tapping, echoing, creating a marching
drum cadence, filling silent voids
throughout the Olympic National Forest
rather than dwell on & pierce spongy pillars
leaving neither pik notes nor identifiable sounds

playing second fiddle 
to the Salish Sea.

A Washington-based author, educator, and Pushcart nominee for poetry, Sterling Warner’s works have appeared in many international literary magazines, journals, and anthologies such as The Ekphrastic Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, Sparks of Calliope, and Unlikely Stories Mark V. Warner’s collections include Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Memento Mori, Edges, Rags & Feathers, Serpent’s Tooth, Flytraps, Cracks of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction, Halcyon Days: Collected Fibonacci (2023) and Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, he writes, turns wood, and hosts virtual/face-to-face poetry readings.

 
 

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