Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.

Jason Sturner

36 years old

Jason Sturner was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. He is a member of the Illinois State Poetry Society and has published three books of poetry. A resident of Wheaton, Illinois, Jason works as a botanist at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Please visit www.jasonsturner.blogspot.com

The Pace of Waiting

The sunflowers grow tall
   in fields we don’t know,
leaning over the broken bodies

of men younger than the day
   of men wiser
than night.

Soldiers   inhaling
the light of sunset;
a reveille to the angels.

These men   chivalrous,
sanguine; anxious to make proud
their transfigured fathers.

Unaware, it would seem,
of the world’s way of forgetting
   and not forgiving.

These men... a man, dreaming
in black and blue. Wondering if the
blood, the pain, is a gift for his god.

Hoping invisible hands
will gather all his relevant pieces
   and let his hour be peaceful.

That those he loves most
will conquer this distance
   sit alongside him,
and carry him home.

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