Sterling Warner
Dog-eared Memories
Like a rhinestone jubilee inspiring awe,
opening minds to human-crafted splendor
drawing spectator admiration and hushed satisfaction
movie starlets dressed in absinthe sensuality
approach in droves, eyes wide, mouth's open
smiling women embrace strange people
and exotic practices with drawbridge expectancy
guided by a Maenad herd mentality linked
in preservation's common bond,
promising to eternalize brief relationships
at the expense of enduring perks
exalting no tolls—true to spontaneity
obliged to no one—answerable to nothing
beyond an occasional cherished recollection
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 Ekphrastic Review, VerseVirtual, Poetry Life & Times, Shot Glass Journal and The Galway Review. Warner's volumes of poetry include Rags And 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, Gunilla's Garden: Poetry (August 2025), as well as Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, Warner writes, turns wood, hosts/participates in "virtual" poetry readings, and enjoys retirement in Washington state.