Author / J.L. Smith

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Posts by J.L. Smith

I am a writer/political scientist based in Eagle River, Alaska. I hold a BA degree in English/Creative Writing and a MA in International Relations. Best of both worlds, I write everything from naturalistic poetry to Russia and the former Soviet Republics. Recent publications: Academic Nonfiction: The Syrian Dilemma: Moscow's Motives in the Syrian Uprising (2013). ISBN: 9781304283931 Creative Nonfiction: "The Important Things" - Alaska Women Speak - Winter 2015 issue Fiction: How to Eat a Bagel - 50-word Stories - Sept 15, 2015 The Devil and the White Room - Down in the Dirt - July/August 2016 Poetry: "Sara" - Grassroots - Fall 1999 "Femininity" - Cirque - Summer 2015 "Sitting in the Bathroom" - Yellow Chair Review - July 2015 "A Happy Poem" - Eunoia Review - August 2015 "Willow Rebuilds" "Spectators" "Fire Angels" - Alaska Women Speak- Fall 2015 "Dark Clouds Descend Low" - Three Line Poetry - Issue 33 - Sept 2015 "Da!" - Peeking Cat Poetry - 8th issue - Oct 2015 "Three times my baby's stroller passes by" - Eunoia Review - Oct 2015 "Babushka's Samovar", "If I May Speak", and "High Tea and Fancy Things" - Alaska Women Speak - Winter 2015 Issue "Joanna's Child" - Cirque - Winter Solstice issue 2015. "Away with the Bitterness!" - Peeking Cat Poetry - 9th Issue - Dec 2015 "Away with the Bitterness!" - Alaska Shorts (49 Writers blog) - December 22, 2015 "The Reflex", "The Drop Off", and "Crossed Eyes" - Eskimo Pie - Feb 2016 "The Fragments You Carry", "The Fireweed Dies", and "Crabapples" - 13 Chairs - Spring 2016
by J.L. Smith

June PoWriMo Day #7

Today’s raw excerpt comes from one of the exercises I took part in at the writers’ conference I attended this last weekend.  It is interesting where such exercises lead you.  This one brought me back to a memory I had mostly forgotten.

Raw excerpt:

I am the child whose favorite two crayons were blue green and green blue.  I once dreamed that life is made of options and perspectives of those two colors….

by J.L. Smith

June PoWriMo Prompt #7

Images and things mean different things to different people.  Take an ordinary thing like glass.  The words “shattered” or “broken” come naturally with glass.

Prompt: What other words can you use with glass? Crumpled glass (in my palm) comes to mind, but what would you use with glass?  Take that thought and run with it.

 

 

by J.L. Smith

Quatrain.Fish Poem

I’m pleased to announce that Quatrain.Fish has accepted a short poem of mine.  I will post when it goes live.  If you are not familiar with Quatrain.Fish, please visit them.  All poems are no more than 4 lines lines.

Brevity with beauty.  Quatrain.Fish.  http://quatrain.fish

by J.L. Smith

June PoWriMo Prompt #6

I took part in a writing conference over the weekend, and during the course of the conference, participated in an exercise of random words.  Specifically, participants were to give the workshop instructor random nouns.  One that gave was skyscraper.  It was an interesting choice, partly chosen because I had recently heard Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper” on my IPod.

Prompt: One person did chose this word in an exercise and it conjured images of 9/11 for her.  Think about the word skyscraper. What does it bring to mind for you?  There are no wrong answers.

by J.L. Smith

June PoWriMo Prompt #5

This one didn’t post yesterday, so it is a day late.  Oops!

Prompt for the day: I was fascinated with Crayola colors in art class as a child. Two crayons colors I was drawn to were the blue-green and the green-blue crayons.  Yup, you are probably thinking what I was thinking: wouldn’t they be the same color? No, they weren’t, as one was a bit more green and the other a bit more blue.  I was drawn to them and would use them frequently, fascinated by the fact of how dominance of one color changed the entire color combination.

Yeah, probably not the most productive use of art class, but hey, I enjoyed color!

Prompt:  Think of color.  What fascinates you?  How does color effect you?  Think of a memory and the effect of color.

 

Enjoy!

 

by J.L. Smith

Prince Anthology

I am pleased to announce that Yellow Chair Review’s Prince Anthology “..Only Wanted One Time to See You Laughing” has been published. One my poems is included in this anthology, “Eternal Purple Rain.”

If you love Prince (and who doesn’t?), you need to check out this anthology.

Enjoy!

JL