M. Benjamin Thorne

On the Monument to the Confederacy
--Elmwood Cemetery, Mecklenburg County, NC
 

As the sun like a distant lantern descends west,
among headstones gathered neatly can be found
thrusting up in profane glory
from this holy Southern ground
this monument, that tells no story.
You teach me nothing, not even a name--
nothing of treachery, hate, or shame—
just empty praise, and even that is barely read,
long since faded, like the many lives you bled.
While you stand, my conscience cannot rest.
What are you to me?
A sinkhole for memory
Hatred’s repository
An empty sconce
An oubliance
An obelisk
A baleful cyst
A basilisk

A Pushcart Prize nominee, M. Benjamin Thorne is an Associate Professor of Modern European History at Wingate University. His poems appear or are forthcoming in Feral, Gyroscope Review, San Antonio Review, Thimble Lit Mag, Last Syllable Lit, and Salvation South. He lives and sometimes sleeps in Charlotte, NC.