Category / Publishing credit

by J.L. Smith

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.

by J.L. Smith

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

 

by J.L. Smith

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!

 

by J.L. Smith

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!

 

by J.L. Smith

Throwback Thusday/Happy Thanksgiving!

This one was published back in August by the Eunoia Review.  Ah, the old creative writing work shop days. 

A happy poem

Posted on August 28, 2015 by

about desertion
and hypocrisy, it was.
Finally, a happy poem, she says,
her eyes crinkled in a smile.

My workshop mates groaned,
although a few of them had
remarked more or less the same.

I had been a poet for less than nine months,
and I had yet to workshop a sentimental piece
about some lost love,
some childhood play place or
some lost pet or friend.
No, I chose to pull them into
my bottomless cauldron of
sales clerks prostituting for commissions,
pretentious people airing their tortured souls
for art, among other things,
but nothing pretty or happy
until now,
or,
at least not as biting as the others she had seen.

When the groaners ask what is so
happy about an affluent man who
after criticizing the local crowd, finds
himself stuck in a dirty
cafe after dark in an unknown town,
she stays by her word,
asks me for a copy to keep,
before folding it into a square
she can keep in her pocket.

by J.L. Smith

Alaska Women Speak

I am delighted to announce that Alaska Women Speak has accepted three of my poems for their winter “Talking over Coffee and Tea” issue!  Poems are:Babushka’s Samovar, If I May Speak, and High Tea and Fancy Things.

Yay!  I will post more details on publication when I get them!

 

 

 

by J.L. Smith

First Poem Published

My first publication.

This is the one that started it all.  Although I’ve always considered myself a fiction writer, I’ve published mostly poetry.   Of course, I have just returned to writing and publishing after a 10 year sabbatical of sorts, so we will see if I can get some fiction published.

In the meantime, this is the first poem I published.  The funny thing is, I never intended to write poetry; poetry found me.  This is the second poem I had ever written.  It was for Jon Tribble’s beginning poetry class at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  I struggled every week for something to turn in, while it seemed, everyone else had a workbook of material to pull from each week. After that class ended, I took a gamble and sent this poem in with two others to Grassroots for its Fall 1999 issue (yes, that long ago!).  This one was accepted.  Enjoy!

Sara

Cool September breeze ruffles

the cheap, tattered peach color hair tie.

Lovely off-white recital gown

laced with light pink ribbon lays loosely on your skin.

A dull plastic pearl necklace—

perfect for the performance.

Luscious cantaloupe colored gloss,

fuchsia nails as possible finishing accessories

The stage cages you with its cheap metal.

There is no release.

Death is the only null in your contact.

But, even death would never redeem

your torture whether it be in heaven or hell.

That never mattered—

they still wanted more.

They went ahead.

Poked your side.

Yanked your tail.

Batted your head.

You are not human.

You just wear the dress

your owner gave you.

Feelings are not yours to feel.

You are incapable of it.

They said so.

What happens when you are the monkey in the cage?