Magazine
Sam Culotta: “A Winter Coat”
Paul Ilechko: “Memories of a Memory”
Madison Isbell: “corpus christi, early march”
Lindsay McLeod: “Sleeping Dogs”
Andrew Mulvania: “Self Portrait As The Grasshopper Trapped Inside Van Gogh’s Olive Trees”
Abner Oakes: “Floating Teeth”
Sterling Warner: “Slap Shot”
Annas Bay Anglers
Oyster beds rise
from tidal pools
like spiritual mounds
nurturing creation
creating calcium shell reefs
flashing occasional nacre—
mother of pearl prosperity—
distracting fishermen with its
iridescence before recasting
lines opening their third eye
and crown chakras,
activating,
balancing,
energizing
a dreamscape where meditation
of purpose guides each rainy day
angler’s quest for silver perch,
steelhead,
sturgeon,
& salmon.
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, The Galway Review, Lothlórien Poetry Journal, Ekphrastic Review, and Sparks of Calliope. 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. Presently, Warner writes, hosts/participates in “virtual” poetry readings, turns wood, and enjoys boating and fishing in Washington.
Image Credit: Public domain image originally published in The Naturalist’s Miscellany, or Coloured Figures of Natural Objects. London: printed for Nodder & Co.,1789-1813. Courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library
Anthropomorphic Junkyard Frigidaires, washers, dryers & sinks lay side by side, on top, or beneath water heaters, ovens, bar-b-cue pits & microwaves—some of them waste away, relenting a lifetime without celebrity or a past beyond energy efficiency—utility taken for granted unless natural gas lines break, electric coals burn out, or freon pipes leak; gloved hands load imperfect devices in truck beds, trailers & trunks— toss them sans ceremony: brusquely, rudely, callously smashed by buckets, crushed under backhoe wheels, picked up and dropped in heaps that creak as sunlight heats & expands metal wail as wind passes through hanging glass doors sheltering rats day & night, providing refuge from feral dogs & cats always on the chase untamed creatures appreciative of blazing sky shade, predatory animal protection, a rain & snow sanctuary before transfer stations load rubble & dispose it in empty asbestos mines at the earth’s core.
About the Author: A Washington-based author, educator, and Pushcart nominee for poetry, Warner’s works have appeared in many international literary magazines, journals, and anthologies such as Street Lit., The Ekphrastic Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Fib Review, and Sparks of Calliope. Warner also has written seven volumes of poetry, including Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Memento Mori: A Chapbook Redux, Edges, Rags & Feathers, Serpent’s Tooth, and Flytraps (2021)—as well as. Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, he writes, hosts virtual poetry readings, and enjoys retirement.
Image Credit: Chase Dimock “Desert Junk Art” (2021)
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Ebb & Flow
I.
Amber beer bottles
back floating on turbid tides
some corked carrying messages
most reduced to glass shards,
razor sharp edges rounded
by the selfsame sand thrust
over rocks, against cliff faces,
around feet wading shoals.
II.
Bull whip kelp wash ashore
after tempests, sunburned beach combers
pop bulb-like heads before gathering
long tentacles, cracking them
like riding crops or cat-o’-nine tails,
flagellating sandcastles & sunbathers
knowing pliable algae’d harmlessly flog
friends & objects of their joyful aggression.
III.
Children tip-toe through flotsam jetsam
scrawl their names in the wet shoreline
place star fish in piles surrounding them
with sea urchins & periwinkle shells
as waves roll in, their creations melt
into a watery fray & they scream
as salty ice hands clutch youthful ankles,
& horseshoe crabs pierce naked feet.
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About the Author: A Washington- based author, poet, educator, word-lover, Sterling Warner’s works have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, journals, and anthologies such as Ekphrastic Review, A Washington-based author, educator, and Pushcart nominee for poetry, Warner’s works have appeared in many international literary magazines, journals, and anthologies such as Street Lit., The Ekphrastic Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Fib Review, The Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine, and Sparks of Calliope. Warner also has written seven volumes of poetry, including Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Memento Mori: A Chapbook Redux, Edges, Rags & Feathers, Serpent’s Tooth, and Flytraps (2022)—as well as. Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, he writes, hosts virtual poetry readings, and enjoys retirement.
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Image Credit: Chase Dimock “Seagulls at Sunset” (2020)
As It Ought To Be 