Strumming daylight’s broken cord
the sun’s separate rays beam unabashed
though double pane storm cellar casements
percussion walls echo as wood beetles munch down
on load bearing studs, their staccato clicks
lay down backbeats, accentuate morning sights arpeggio
long after crickets rest night-chirping legs
yet before I finish sipping three cups of coffee,
read news headlines on my MacBook Pro,
and scratch a re-do list addressing present needs
past acquaintances, and foregone opportunities.

Mist appears out the window like frosted fog
chilling sunrise songbirds and crowing cocks
through clouds I envision Brenda parting
multicolored vapor, looking beyond the horizon
choosing death over life fraught with travails
the rest of us endure. Brenda. Brenda? Did a bottle
of pills really help you escape? Do you regret
the inability to distinguish pain from pleasure
as you float insubstantially across the skyline
numb, free, totally alone? Will your arms greet me
at crossroads once my own life flame flickers?

An award-winning author, poet, and emeritus english professor, sterling warner’s works have appeared many literary magazines, journals, and anthologies including Anti-heroin chic, The Galway Review and Sparks of Calliope. Sterling Warner’s 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.