Corner Table by Sterling Warner

From Coltrane to Bird

freestyling jazz enthusiasts

strike notes sharp and flat

drummers roll wooden sticks

around kits, riding cymbals,

providing crescendos, milking

dark corners—drawing inspiration

from unpainted walls clinging

to the lingering scent of cigarettes,

cigars, reefers and perspiration.

Pushing smoky spectres around 

shouldered genius patiently skulks 

as improv evolves, flashy players

and discordant sounds ever at odds

prevail, glassy eyes hide behind 

dark heroin glasses while throaty 

voices bring scat to the forefront

like Ella Fitzgerald, wordless vocables

pulling theme and variation full circle 

in arpeggio fragments, patterns, and riffs.

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