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Luna Cycle by Sterling Warner

Black velvet skyways provide an ebon tufted backdrop

for last nights’ alabaster moon

that brightened city

and country

corners

ere

evolved,

shimmering

light revealing long

graceful lines stretching like refined

wrinkles across the orb. Distinguished. Waxing. Waning.

Face scarred by prominent craters

capricious glimmer

flickering

shifting

each

phase

cresting

first quarter

until the last like

a supernova in waiting

anxious to spread intergalactic luminescence.

Bio

An award-winning Washington-based author, poet, and English Professor specializing in world mythology, Sterling Warner’s works have appeared literary magazines, journals, and anthologies including Trouvaille Review, Danse Macabre, Ekphrastic Review, and Sparks of Calliope. Warner’s collections of poetry include Rags and Feathers, Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Edges, Memento Mori, Serpent’s Tooth, and Flytraps: Poems (2022)—as well as Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, Warner writes, participates in “virtual” poetry readings, and enjoys retirement in Washington.

Author's note

“Luna,” the personification of the moon in Greek/Roman mythology, inspired my poem which mixes traditional and scientific imagery in its observation of an endless cycle.