Low Bar Priorities
Excitement’s an anathema
to my current living style
ten years ago I’d weed-wack
an acre of Spanish broom, cordgrass,
and Himalayan Blackberries
all in in single morning…top trees
and chop wood noon till dusk
barbecue smores on my summit
overlooking the Skokomish River
sing old Motown hits offkey
around a blazing campfire
sleeping-in, mapping out events
on a calendar of my own making
alternating solemn and frivolous days
infused with physical exercise
with a week’s worth of relaxation—
a well-established passion pattern
abandoned only after Carole passed
and little matter in the face
of loss, grieve, and loneliness.
Presently everything’s quite different
now that thinking’s become a chore
as my bouts of phlegmatic sarcasm,
ill humor, unpredictable laziness,
and inert nature fashion a palpable lens
for viewing and accepting solitude’s
exhaustive gifts of self-preservation, dogged
and overshadowed by a chameleon past;
fireplace banked, today I wiggle
in front of my Flagstone heath,
glance at my life love’s photo on my
MacBook Pro computer before I grasp
the LG OLED TV remote control
settling in for an afternoon watching
international people grunt, groan,
shout, and hit rocks cursing and curling
their way towards the house, knocking
their opponent’s stone off the button
sweeping ice more times in a single set
than my kitchen’s enjoyed in a year.
About the Author: 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, VERSE-VIRTUAL, UNLIKELY STORIES, and AS IT OUGHT TO BE. Warner’s poetry/fiction include RAGS & FEATHERS, WITHOUT WHEELS, SHADOWCAT, EDGES, MEMENTO MORI, SERPENT’S TOOTH, FLYTRAPS, CRACKS OF LIGHT: PANDEMIC POETRY & FICTION 2019-2022, HALCYON DAYS: COLLECTED FIBONACCI, ABRAXAS, GUNILLA’S GARDENS, SEABOARD MAGIC: POEMS (2026) and MASQUES: FLASH FICTION & SHORT STORIES. Presently, Warner writes, hosts/participates in “virtual” poetry readings, and enjoys boating and fishing in Washington.
Image Credit: Childe Hassam Extensive Landscape With River (1917) Public domain image courtesy of Artvee
As It Ought To Be 