Hey Everyone!
Cirque‘s winter solstice issue is up! My poem “Joanna’s Child” is on page 63. Check it out! Issues are available via subscription, as well as Barnes & Noble here in Anchorage, as well as other stores. Take a look!
Category / Poetry
Alaska Women Speak’s Winter Issue: Publication
Hi everyone!
Just got my copy of Alaska Women Speak yesterday. I was so excited to see my four (yes 4!) works in their latest issue, which centers around drinking coffee or tea. Alaskans, you can get your copy via subscription (of course) or at Barnes & Noble in Anchorage, or in my other fine retailers listed on the website.
Works included:
Nonfiction: The Important Things
Poems: Babushka’s Samovar, If I May Speak, and High Tea and Fancy Things.
Check it out!
Jennifer, who adores drinking tea, loves writing about her favorite beverage!
49 Writers Blog: Alaska Shorts
Hey everyone! My poem “Away with the Bitterness” has been reprinted today in Alaska Shorts on the 49 Writers blog. Check it out! Holiday theme!
49 Writers: Away with the Bitterness
On December 22nd, the 49 Writers‘ blog is going to feature my poem “Away with the Bitterness” as an Alaska Shorts feature! A Christmas theme poem, it was originally published in Peeking Cat Poetry‘s 9th issue! I am so excited to see it reprinted on our local writers’ blog.
Will post when it goes live!
Throwback Thursday – Alaska Women Speak
This one was published in Alaska Women Speak‘s 2015 Fall Issue: Fireweed theme.
Fire Angels
Girl with corn silk curls twirls
in the meringue sundress into
a field of fireweed.
Her hands slap the magenta petals
like a propeller, spinning the fluffy
cotton until she collapses,
but does not stop,
making fire angels in the weeds.
Throwback Thursday – Alaska Women Speak
This one was published in Alaska Women Speak‘s 2015 Fall Issue: Fireweed theme.
Spectators
The cracked windshield, blotted with rain,
streaked with each wiper blade pass, as
we wasted time with a drive past the Chugach
Mountains, thick with gray cloud afros,
adorning each peak.
Miles of guard rail sheltered
our route from the swollen Eagle River just feet away
until the gray broke for a brief patch of fireweed
and a moose cow and calf,
their red-brown fur
nestled against the magenta petals
as they waited along the roadside:
spectators to our rainy day parade.
Peeking Cat Poetry Poem
My poem “Away with the Bitterness” is included in Peeking Cat Poetry‘s 9th issue. Download the 9th issue for free!
Throwback Thursday – Alaska Women Speak
“Willow Rebuilds” was published in Alaska Women Speak‘s Fall Issue 2015. This poem was written about the aftermath of the Sockeye Fire in Willow, Alaska.
Willow Rebuilds
from the shards of glass, the piles of wood ash,
the remains of once soggy work shirts and jeans, and
a burned out jeep.
Beyond the twisted metal of a former guard rail and
the cardboard signs thanking the Alaska Sockeye firefighters,
the birch and spruce warriors still stand.
Some trunks burn black while others burn auburn,
like a passion that refuses to die or rest defeated.
Yet, off in the distance, where the ash grass turns
a brittle yellow then a tall green,
the fireweed rises,
its magenta petals ignite the landscape with life,
encircling the new plywood,
and the owner’s grinding saw,
as the cabin rises again.
#willowalaska #sockeyefire #poetry #alaskawomenspeak #throwbackthursday
Peeking Cat Poetry
I am pleased to announce that my poem, “Away with the Bitterness” will be published in Peeking Cat Poetry‘s ninth issue, coming out just in time for Christmas. Check them out! Will post more when it debuts!
Eskimo Pie
I am pleased to announce that Eskimo Pie has accepted 3 of my old school poems for its February issue! When I say “old school” I really mean old school! Two of these poems were written 17 years ago (in my undergraduate creative writing courses no less!), with the third written about 14 years ago. These, admittedly, were hard to place and I am glad finally to have found a home for them. Although I did revise them, I left the gist and the overall blueprint of the original poems intact. Looking back on them, I see a lot of growth as a poet.
Have you ever revisited an earlier work only to see how far you’ve come in your writing? Yeah, these poems have done that for me. I am thankful they have found a home.
I look forward to seeing “The Reflex”, “The Drop Off”, and “Crossed Eyes” in February!
J.L. Smith 