Three poems by S. Thomas Summers

Poetry – Issue 9 | May 2010

Conscientious Objector

I care not for this myth-making:
the clang of sword and shield,
beach sand jellied with the blood

of honor-bent brothers. Let me,
as Paris, dwell in a fig tree’s shade,
dissect an afternoon

with attentive eyes. Sheep
loiter in green meadows.
Daffodils tempt me with their passions:

sunlight and soil. Why chisel
my face onto history’s
alabaster? I’ll repose the while,

listen to hornets hum like the plucked
strings of harp and lyre.

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S. Thomas Summers is a teacher of literature and writing at Wayne Hills High School in Wayne, NJ and an English professor at Passaic County Community College in Wanaque, NJ. He is the author of two chapbooks: Death Settled Well and Rather, It Should Shine. Summers’s poetry has also appeared in 2River View, The Pedestal Magazine, and Triggerfish Critical Review. His poem, A Fall from Grace won the IBPC 2009 poem of the year. Visit him where he breathes and blogs.

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Literary Bohemian

Poetry – Issue 9 | May 2010