Tag / publishing credit

by J.L. Smith

Throwback Thursday: The Fragments You Carry

This poem was published in 13chairs’ first issue. Enjoy!

 

The Fragments You Carry

One box always carried

is a cardboard Ziploc container.

It could be the quart size,

the gallon size,

or even the sandwich size.

The contents,

the plastic sealable bags,

are not the important things.

 

With each military ordered move—

seven in fifteen years between

five states and one foreign country—

it is among the last boxes

removed from the house or apartment

that was your base,

where you celebrated Christmas,

away from your family,

for two or three years.

 

The bags are mostly gone.

They were used to secure the toiletries,

the mint toothpaste,

the lavender scented deodorant,

the red and green toothbrushes,

and the overpriced pumpkin spice body lotion

you wouldn’t dare throw away,

even if it is only one-third full,

 

in the suitcase that sits by itself

by the door with the cleaning supplies and oils

the movers would not take,

the glass cleaner you used yesterday,

the full bottle of rubbing alcohol,

and the half used olive oil

you will need to discard

in the overfilled trash can at the curb,

after you close the door one final time.

 

The cardboard box remains to pick up

the rest of your things:

the permanent markers,

the bottle of Tylenol,

the loose change,

the card from a friend wishing you a safe journey,

the receipt from your favorite pho restaurant

and the cheap vodka you had last night.

 

The final physical fragments of your former home

that will be emptied and thrown away

first at your next destination.

 

 

by J.L. Smith

Tanka Publication!

Hi everyone,

I am pleased to announced that the Tanka Journal has accepted one of my tanka poems for their third issue.  Check them out.  Free issues are available on the site.  Not familiar with tanka? Check out the web site and find out more about this brief form.

Enjoy!

J.L

 

by J.L. Smith

Alaska Women Speak

Hey my Alaskan folks!  Alaska Women Speak has just released their Spring 2016 issue: Adventures in Foreign Lands. I have four pieces in this issue.  My three poems and nonfiction piece center on my stay in South Korea in 2002-2003.    Locally the magazine is available at Barnes and Noble in Anchorage and Fireside Books in Palmer, as well as other stores throughout the state.

Check it out!

Poems: A Greeting at Imjingak, Chaos and Conformity, and Bibimbap.

Prose: A Forgotten War.

 

by J.L. Smith

Throwback Thursday: Earthquake Shakes

This one was published by Three Line Poetry in February.  Short and sweet, each line is less than 40 characters.  Enjoy.  It is about my first earthquake in Alaska.

 

earthquake shake book shelves
café patrons lock eyes
a brief sip paused
by J.L. Smith

Throwback Thursday: The Reflex

This poem was published by Eskimo Pie in February.  Yes, a Duran Duran reference!

The Reflex

 

The lead guitarist’s butterfly collar

framed the half opened polyester shirt

exposing the sable chest hair that

matched his fuzzy head.

Shiny silver dress slit high

up the lead singer’s

thigh as she begins

her scorching rendition

of Gloria Gaynor.

 

I will survive

Oh, as long as I know …

 

It reminds of my mother’s obsession with

 

All oldies – all of the time

 

Songs that tormented my youth

with a quick rotation of the radio dial.

 

Love, love me do…

 

The lyrics of one Beatles song or another—

nothing but a good oldie would do for my mother.

 

As I sat watching the misfit 70’s band

leave the stage at the dive bar of my college existence

where I often drank after creative writing workshops—

sometimes more than others, sometimes harder than others—

the thoughts of the funky polyester pants dissipate

and memories of my mother’s radio fade

giving way to another time when I was young,

and Duran Duran’s “The Reflex”

made everything seem so much easier.

by J.L. Smith

“Urban Snack” and Yellow Chair Review

I am pleased to announce that my poem “Urban Snack” will be published in Yellow Chair Review‘s June issue.  More details when the issue goes live.  In the meantime, please check out all the good works at Yellow Chair Review.

by J.L. Smith

(Explicit)Throwback Thursday: The Drop Off

Explicit post: Warning! Possible trigger.

This poem was published by Eskimo Pie in February.  Check out the poem and Eskimo Pie too!

 

The Drop Off

Maidenhood aside,

your sex trapped me.

My fresh curls could not

compete with you aged mounds

of flesh I did not desire.

 

The fruity bubble gum should

have told me all:

the sickly melon perfumed

my car, ate at my stomach,

eroding my alliance,

down to a sugary decay of

falsehood and cunning.

 

Thinking nothing of sticky fly traps,

I shared my soda and

youthful dimples.

 

Instead of cookies, you offered love

and, of course, your sex

as the sugar started to saturate,

entrapping me.

 

The friend you left behind —

not the one that offered you a ride,

the one you had in me–

dashed off her fears and turned the key.

 

Sweetly, I spurned your desires,

but with all the sugar everything

turned sour.

 

I dropped off your unfulfilled

desires at your doorstop.

You will come to me again,

but I will not be there.

 

I’ve thrown away all of my candy.

 

by J.L. Smith

Throwback Thursday: Crossed Eyes

This one is a very old poem, probably written in 1998, that was published in February’s Eskimo Pie.  Now, if that is not a real Throwback Thursday, I don’t know what is, lol.  “Crossed Eyes” for your Throwback Thursday enjoyment!

Crossed Eyes

A glossy photograph with eyes

scraped clean with black ballpoint.

Anger and pressure,

strokes of lines—

straight and circular—

penetrate white paper,

bringing it to the fore,

dehumanizing its former owner of its

identity

warmth

power

control

over the smiling figure pictured next to it,

you.

by J.L. Smith

Throwback Thursday: Joanna’s Child

This poem was published in Cirque‘s Winter 2015 issue.  It was written around 2001.  It remained dormant until 2015, when I decided to revise it and submit it for publication.  Despite some revision, little changed from old version to the final published version.

A side note: if you have never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, do yourself a favor and check out this coming-of-age classic!

Enjoy!

Joanna’s Child

 

But what makes you get a baby often

                        starts with a kiss…Remember Joanna.

                                                –Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

 

At 14, I learned that I was Joanna’s baby.

The realization was somewhere

between sixth grade,

maxi pads

and sex education.

 

I was different—

not in the typical angst way,

for I stayed out of trouble,

in a small town

where no one divorced,

where everyone went to your church,

or some church,

where everyone wanted to know you,

or at least, your business—

I was an unwedded birth when good

girls did not keep their babies.

 

I’m your mother and father,

my mother would say,

and I believed her.

I told everyone I had no father,

 

until I became older and realized

the “oh” would be followed

by the awkward nod,

a shuffle of feet,

or rattle of ice in a drinking cup,

when I told them

my parents had not married,

nor had I had any contact

with him.

 

Eventually I caught on;

it was a signal—

we could no longer be friends.

 

Later, in my college years

the questions would be more demanding:

Do you know who he is?

Wouldn’t you like to know?

Aren’t you curious?

I would lie and say no.

 

Like all of the stones that were hurled at Joanna,

I knew my mother had her scars.

 

She would remind me often that

she was a good mother

(and to the best of her ability she was),

It was her attempt to negate those who thought otherwise

because she chose to break the rules.

 

So, what “lessons” did Joanna share

with her child?

I don’t fully know her pain

(or his name),

aside from the assurances of her mothering,

the glares and the asides.

She never shared her wounds,

and the wounds from the rocks that hit me

never healed either.

 

 

by J.L. Smith

Alaska Women Speak

I’m pleased to announce that Alaska Women Speak will publish, along with 3 of my poems, a nonfiction piece of mine called “The Forgotten War.”  This piece is about my visit to the DMZ that separates North and South Korea.  For all my local readers, these works will be available at Barnes & Noble Anchorage, Homer Bookstore and other outlets throughout Alaska.