Brunelleschi’s Easel, by Sterling Warner

Möbius Strip II (red ants), by M.C. Escher (Netherlands) 1963

Brunelleschi’s Easel

Escher incantations spawn geomantic perspective
talking heads unravel like onions on TV screens
fill cell phone monitors; red ants transverse a helix
sandwiched between arrows suggesting choice:
one shaft points to heaven where kindly mothers
repose and watch over frolicking grandchildren
the second cursory dart directs rambling wayfarers
to hellfire’s netherworlds—wastelands that absorb
inspiration and project false comparison, angles
on edge like an infinite clearance traffic sign
conceived by illusion’s enigmatic craftsman,
promising eternal existence on a Möbius strip
organizing scale, arranging space, calling shots,
demanding artistic respect like a mathematic dominatrix.

Sterling Warner

A Washington-based author, educator, and Pushcart nominee for poetry, Warner’s works have appeared in many international literary magazines, journals, and anthologies such as Street Lit., The Ekphrastic Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Fib Review, and Sparks of Calliope. Warner also has written seven volumes of poetry, including Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Memento Mori: A Chapbook Redux, Edges, Rags & Feathers, Serpent’s Tooth, Flytraps  and  Cracks of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction (2022)—as well as. Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories. Currently, he writes, turns wood, and hosts virtual poetry readings.