Sterling Warner
Nocturnal Raptors
Night owls flash obsidian wit
absorbing into ebon curtains
where sounds persist longer
than line of sight imagery
of trees, shrubbery, and metro
park statues that seemed to move
ever slightly between twilight blinks.
Hikers assume each hoot, shriek, or cry
translates as late winter lamentation
a time to translate vibrant nerve endings
into verbal expression directed at anyone
close enough to listen and imagine vigilant
feathered heads on nature's caretakers rotating
270 degrees, awaiting the Summer Solstice.
Bio
An author, poet, educator, and Push Cart Nominee, Sterling Warner's works have appeared in such literary magazines, journals, and anthologies as The Fib Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Shot Glass Journal, Poetry Life & Times, and The Galway Review. Warner's volumes of poetry include Rags & Feathers, Without Wheels, Shadowcat, Edges, Memento Mori, Serpent's Tooth, Flytraps: Poems, and Cracks Of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction 2019-2022, Halcyon Days: Collected Fibonacci, Abraxas: Poems as well as Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, Warner writes, turns wood, hosts "virtual" poetry readings, and enjoys retirement in Washington state.