Phillip Sterling

THE MIRACLE OF THE SILENT M

Mnemosyne dreaded lining up alphabetically, especially for gym class, where seldom a pneuma shared her mispronunciation, her grief. They’d count off by twos for the relay and more often than not Mnemosyne would awkwardly be positioned—beside a gnome, for instance, its silence insidious and foreign. Inevitably, she would not place. Only afterwards, in the shower, was she gratified. No one could contest her visceral, nimble body. That’s what, years later, most would recall.

THE MIRACLE OF NUPTIALS

Shortly after the Prince of the Forest proposed, there rose into the chilled air the question of his great-grandmother’s lace veil, a condensation of royale breath and tradition (though some yellowing remained, despite everyone’s best efforts at reclamation). Perhaps it was time to act princely. I understand if you don’t want to wear it, he told the blue spruce. After all, it’s your wedding too. His intended remained mute. But everyone could tell by the way the sky held her, weeping, that she was thinking “our wedding” and was very very happy.

PHILLIP STERLING’s collections of poetry include Local Congregation: Poems Uncollected 1985-2015, Short on Days, And Then Snow, Mutual Shores, and four chapbook-length series of poems. Lessons in Geography, a memoir in essays, was published by Cornerstone Press in August 2024.