February 2022
Sterling Warner
jsterlingwarner@gmail.com
Bio Note: A Washington based author, poet, and educator, my poems and stories have appeared in many international literary magazines, journals and anthologies such as the Eunioa Review, Verse-Virtual, and Anti-Heroin Chic. My most recent poetry/fiction collections include Serpent’s Tooth: Poems, Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories, and Flytraps (2022) . Currently, I enjoy writing, turning wood, participating in “virtual” poetry readings, and fishing along the Hood Canal.

Fireside Concert

Tick…tick…tick adagietto…
our wood burning stove sings out
like a hollow, anorectic bell;
as its metal expands adagio, we
raise our hands, look each other
in the eye, tap batons on imaginary 
music stands, make funny faces
and begin to conduct the flame-fed
heater like a symphony orchestra
andante moderato, spreading 
our arms as the black steel
quickens...click, click, click
allegro…then the hot air blower
kicks-in vivacissimo, so we turn,
nod our heads approvingly; 
warm gusts billow across the room 
from the flagstone hearth, striking
furniture like timpani drum membrane
allegrissimo, reaching a midnight crescendo 
sheet metal shell now contracting allegretto
tick…tick… tick…sending sleepy maestros 
off to bed prestissimo; tick, tick, tick andante; 
pop…click…tick lento; tick…tick…tick
pop…tick…pop…click…click largo.
©2022 Sterling Warner
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