S Thomas Summers

The Journals of Lt. Kendall Everly S Thomas Summers

This collection is the second book in S. Thomas Summers' Civil War series. A school teacher and a pacifist, Kendall Everly pits himself against the war, saddened by the fleeting innocence of his students and the purity he feels that innocence personifies. Everly embraces the Union effort and enlists, a noble effort to protect the youth he knows will soon understand the terrible realities of blood and steel. Yet, the war and its horrors envelope him, transform him into a man he no longer knows or recognizes. In The Journals of Lt. Kendall Everly, S. Thomas Summers metaphorically marches his readers into the history and heart of the American Civil War. Through particular attention to detail, powerful sonic impression, and stunning imagery, these brilliant and disturbing poems take us directly into battle with Kendall Everly. Today, the weapons, war fields, and faces have changed, but the emotional, physical, and spiritual battles remain the same. Summers is a perceptive and uncompromising "witness" who leads us to the sad wisdom of every war's horror and loss.-Adele Kenny, editor, author of What MattersS. Thomas Summers has written another poignant, inspiring collection of poems that well portrays the angst, camaraderie, fear, and other human emotions that all Civil War soldiers experienced.-Scott L. Mingus, Sr., historian, author of Flames Beyond GettysburgArtillery whistles like a murder of banshees, white tents hover over last night's battlefield like praying angels, muskets scratch the morning with poisonous tips-S. Thomas Summers' page-turning lyrics reenact the Civil War so compellingly that readers will check themselves for wounds. This cinematic, personal book is truly Summers' "battle to protect the poetry of lives." In our world, still at war with itself, still sanitizing carnage with statistics, he reminds us that poetry is our best hope for peace.-Susanna Rich, professor of English at Kean University, author of Television Daddy