Photo by Chez McGregor
Bayview Showbiz
Alas! Last night I dreamed I slept with Ethel Merman,
yet our showbiz tryst lacked spark and originality.
She belted out commands, so I bought her a drink,
ascended her apartment stairway with trepidation.
Nothing we shared came close to appealing
her sluggish twists, infrequent turns, and brassy squeals
mocked entertainment, undermined our intimacy. When she gave
me her phone number, I balked. I blushed. I acquiesced.
Not everyone may long to star in movies, hang at karaoke bars,
reappear from drawn curtains—happy to deliver one final bow.
I thrived on applause… my nightmare’s the backside of dreams fulfilled:
Broadway floodlights, stage doors—yes, Ethel’s phantom gaze.
Her cabaret laughter echoed through a bayview window—broke
the fourth wall—awoke my backyard: young blue grass shoots pushed past
winter snow, revealed an emerald carpet teaming with grubs detaching
lawn in newfound spring warmth—nature’s indomitable theater.
The Author
A Washington-based author, poet, educator, and Push Cart Nominee, Sterling Warner’s works have appeared in such literary magazines, journals, and anthologies as Ariel Publishing, LLC, The Ekphrastic Review, Danse Macabre, Scarlet Leaf Review, The Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine, The Fib Review, and the Shot Glass Journal. Warner’s volumes of poetry include Rags and Feathers, Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Edges, Memento Mori, Serpent’s Tooth: Poems, and Flytraps (2022)—as well as Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, Warner writes, turns wood, participates in “virtual” poetry readings, and enjoys retirement.
Sterling Warner
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