Wheellock pistols and civil war sabers,
more than just a family’s coat-of-arms,
decorate knotty pine cabin walls
deep in the Everglades pestilent swamp
where alligators rest on banks covered
in muck, ready to strike out at inattentive
wildlife or rush back into the wetlands
hidden below the quagmire except for eyes
that poke above water like periscopes viewing all.
The cabin floor, unswept for a dozen years, sported
multicolored moss & mildew corner to corner;
rat turds crunch as feet walk across wooden floors,
figures appear outside through wax paper windows,
winds whisper between cracks & increase tonality
as wings rustle and mud-swallows flitter in & out
rafter holes safe from predators, build nests, tend chicks—
cultivate life amid passé remnants of fireplace heraldry
while crossed blades just rust & pirate pistols don’t fire.
Sterling Warner: An author, poet, educator, and Pushcart Award nominee, Sterling Warner’s poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including The Flatbush Review, Literary Yard, The Fib Review, “Sparks of Calliope: A Journal of Poetic Observations, “Scarlett Leaf Review,” “Poetry Life & Times,” and The Atherton Review. Warner has published six collections of poetry: Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Rags and Feathers, Edges, Memento Mori: A Chapbook Redux, and Serpent’s Tooth: Poems (2021). Also, Warner’s first collection of fiction, Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories, launched in August 2020: https://www.amazon.com/Serpents-Tooth-Poems-Sterling-Warner
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times at Artvilla.com ; You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author & https://poetrylifeandtimes.com See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)