{"id":8360,"date":"2023-07-20T21:09:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/?p=8360"},"modified":"2023-07-20T21:37:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:37:16","slug":"the-gypsy-sea-poems-by-sterling-warner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/the-gypsy-sea-poems-by-sterling-warner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gypsy Sea Poems by Sterling Warner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\nGypsy Sea<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSunrise<\/em>: necks stretched out like hungry clams\r\nlurch for the Ibuprofen emperor \r\nwhose numb fingers wave loners to caf\u00e9 chairs\u2014\r\nrivet them to sticky alligator seats, bottom sides \r\ntextured with chewing gum madness; daydreams\r\npull life\u2019s canopy over sand and foam,  \r\nseasick tides lick each empowered undertow\r\nsheer bag luck burlesques diffident efforts, \r\nt\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate<\/em> conversations revealing \r\nepiphany-like promises through opaque glass.\r\n\r\nNightfall<\/em>: along the coastline, bonfires blaze\r\nbodies gather, mouths breathe desire, minds re-imagine; \r\nmoving between cosmic and material worlds,  \r\ncleaving mustard greens like an armful of roses,  \r\na gypsy mystic dances like a whirling dervish\r\ntoe-ring magic fractures limestone bones   \r\nunbrushed by feet for millennia \r\nbangle bracelets and silver cymbals rouse\r\never vigilant, sleepy-eyed centurions\r\nstand guard over her Technicolor Roma.\r\n\r\nSun-up<\/em>: astronomical dawn signals nocturnal closure,\r\ndancing legs and burning feet cease\r\nrhythmically rocking shellfish strongholds;\r\ndense auburn moss calmly spreads its way south  \r\nwraps a tranquil riverbed in nature\u2019s sheath\r\nguides an Arabesque<\/em> estuary toward a\r\nsalt water fiord<\/em>, lateral moraine, where\r\nnourished sediment dwellers burrow home\r\nhigh tides pull ashes, bathe shorelines \r\nlittered with seaweed, driftwood, memories.\r\n\r\nGrace<\/strong>\r\nFor G. M.<\/em>\r\n\r\nGrace leaned against parked cars \r\nat midnight, full crow moon rays bathing \r\nher body in luminescent grandeur. \r\nPoised. Seductive. Her touch extended\r\nover an embankment like sprouting \r\nfoxtail seeds resemble ballerinas that float\r\non the breeze and hook into dog paws \r\n\r\nFragile. Elastic. Insubstantial. Like bubbles \r\nblown from hoops that burst unpredictably, \r\nGrace\u2019s rainbow brow sought barn owl benedictions\r\nwaved goodbye to the summer solstice\r\nwelcomed the autumnal equinox\u2014a September song\r\nthat harvested her deeply planted thoughts \r\nand sowed them in fields of winter wheat.\r\n\r\nWind passed through cedar branches, eclipsed \r\nGrace\u2019s mantra of green card foreboding \r\nadded frivolity and enhanced shorter days\r\nand nights both waiting for December\r\nto push back twilight\u2019s rays\u2014scatter them\r\nin the upper atmosphere\u2014brighten evening skies \r\nwarm Dawn\u2019s fingers on the rising sun\u2019s heels.  \r\n\r\nWistful Lulamaes<\/strong>\r\nFor Audrey Hepburn<\/em>\r\n\r\nTiffany windows display silver platters \r\nreflect morning light like vintage mirrors \r\nas pedestrians hide behind Oliver Goldsmith sunglasses,\r\ndressed to the nines like Holly Golightly\r\npose then study its Manhattan showcase framed \r\nby granite walls on Fifth Avenue & 57th Street.\r\n\r\nDisguised as stylish escorts, men and women peer\r\nthrough double-pane glass, appreciate excess & exotica \r\nin equal measure, ponder fleeting holographic images \r\nof John the Baptist\u2019s head etched sterling trays\r\nmurmuring silent prophecies, portend gentle greatness \r\n& Big Apple panache for life beyond Sodom\u2019s avenging angels. \r\n\r\nTruman Capote\u2019s phantom emerges from Central Park shadows \r\nwears a white suit & hat, moves forward like a garden snail, \r\nmaintains a two-block buffer, his high-pitched voice mingling \r\nwith car horns & cabbies where rainbows end announces \r\nbreakfast availability to Broadway street singers, Soho artists, \r\nmoon river enthusiasts, New York tourists, huckleberry friends.\r\n\r\nMagyar Sleeves<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Colour of my soul is iron-grey and sad bats wheel about the steeple of my dreams.\u201d<\/em>\r\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2014Claude Debussy<\/strong>\r\n\r\nGrooming themselves \r\n    like cats, bat pups clutch \r\n    onto their perch upside down, \r\n    loosen artistic digits  \r\n    emerge from slumber \r\n    in hollow trees, cave mouths, \r\n    attic eves & rocky crevices.\r\nFrom inverted roosts, \r\n    they drop into flight mode \r\n    as membrane covered forelimbs \r\n    navigate ultrasonic waves \r\n    & echolocation identify \r\n    evening canvases to paint \r\n    with wings like a brush & palette.\r\nMoonlight colonies undercover \r\n    zig-zag through mist & gnat clouds,\r\n    rising from depths of stone lined wells,\r\n    leave watercolor portraits \r\n    during witching hours\r\n    as children trick or treat \r\n    wearing bat capes & cowls.<\/pre>\n
 
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\nAn award-winning author, poet, and educator, Sterling Warner\u2019s<\/strong> works have appeared in literary magazines, journals, and anthologies including Danse Macabre, Poetry Life and Times, Ekphrastic Review<\/em>, and Sparks of Calliope<\/em>. Warner\u2019s collections of poetry include Rags and Feathers, Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Edges, Memento Mori: A Chapbook Redux, Serpent\u2019s Tooth, Flytraps<\/em>, and Cracks of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction 2019-2022<\/em>\u2014as well as Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories<\/em>. Currently, Warner writes, participates in \u201cvirtual\u201d poetry readings, and enjoys retirement in Washington.
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\nhttps:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Cracks of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction<\/a><\/p>\n
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Gypsy Sea Sunrise: necks stretched out like hungry clams lurch for the Ibuprofen emperor whose numb fingers wave loners to caf\u00e9 chairs\u2014 rivet them to sticky alligator seats, bottom sides textured with chewing gum madness; daydreams pull life\u2019s canopy over sand and foam, seasick tides lick each empowered undertow sheer bag luck burlesques diffident efforts, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[808,796,366,401,43,894],"tags":[18,136,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8363,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions\/8363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}