Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi

Sally Thomas

June descends on the sleepy mountain town.
Summer folk return, unlock their houses.
Weekends, the hermit hears their cars grind down
The switchback road. In slouch-kneed weekend trousers,
Old men squire their Queen-Anne’s-Lace-haired wives.
I like that weed, the hermit tells himself.
His solitude’s a bulwark. All those lives
Expend themselves in happy hours and golf.
The hermit’s a diversion when, on Sunday,
He comes to Mass with his hackberry walking stick.
Today, a man in a pink shirt offers money ––
You can always make another. The hermit’s trick
For joy fails to persuade him: Find some wood.
Whittle till it’s finished. Call it good.

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Sally Thomas
Poet & Editor

Sally Thomas is the author of a poetry collection, Motherland (Able Muse Press 2020) and a novel, Works of Mercy, forthcoming from Wiseblood Books in 2022. She is also co-editor of an anthology, Christian Poetry in America Since 1940, due out from Paraclete Press, also in 2022. Currently she serves as Associate Poetry Editor for the New York Sun.

Photography by Sven Pieren