S. Thomas Summers

STRETCHING THROUGH THE GRASS


Not backyard dandelions scraping
their lashes against late morning sun.
Not ice melting in a cup of apple juice
abandoned on the kitchen
counter, nor a path that trickles
through a purple meadow
as raindrops dribble on a church's

stained glass. Not honey bees humming
above tall lavender. Nor cobwebs spun
between crystals dangling
from the dining room chandelier
like strands of melted sugar.

Mostly it's the old fence
stretching through the grass
like a tired man through his life.
Yes, this is a poem about that fence.

S. Thomas Summers is a teacher of English at Wayne Hills High School in Wayne, NJ. His poems have appeared in several print and electronic journals: MiPo, The English Journal, The Orange Room review, The Pedestal Magazine, etc. His chapbook "Death settled well" won Shadow Ink Publications 7th Bi-annual Chapbook Competition and was published in September 2006. "Death settled well" can be purchased at www.shadowpoetry.com or by contacting the author directly at scottsummers1@hotmail.com. Summers's second chapbook, "Rather, it Should Shine", is forthcoming from Pudding House Press.