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...and they lived happily ever after. Smith & Lady: poets, artists, photographers & adventurers.
Our relationship was forged to the soundtrack of Yoko Ono's magic,
frenetic, love-laden song, "Walking On Thin Ice." ( play song )
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Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category
Monday, February 15th, 2021

Here’s “Seeking in Sync of Soul,” last month’s feature on Medusa’s Kitchen — nine art fotos, eight 3-liners, one 4-liner.
http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2021/01/seeking-in-sync-of-soul.html
This month’s coming feature (I get the 3rd Thursday of the month) will be 3 Russell Vidrick poems, 3 Lady, 3 me.
Think next month I’ll do Jim Lang, Wendy Shaffer, me.
Thanks to publisher/editor Kathy Kieth for her generosity and magic eye for flow.

Posted in Art, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
Monday, February 1st, 2021

Lady reads 10 poems on the Cuyahoga County Public Library podcast (thanks to Laurie Kincer):
Special Creatures – 1:10
Concrete Bridge – 1:52
Ancient Moon – 1:25
Weft – 0:32
Roog – 0:47
Summer – 0:36
Like the Fairy Tales – 0:44
Kisosen – 0:54
Recipes That Help Us – 0:52
Spring – 0:29
https://cuyahogalibrary.org/Services/William-N-Skirball-Writers-Center/Writers-Reading-Podcast/Writer-Authors/Podcasts/Kathy-Smith.aspx

Posted in Lady, Photography, Poetry, Publications | No Comments »
Sunday, January 31st, 2021

Gots bunches of stuff to post… have for awhile, but lack ego energy to do so. Maybe dribble it out in bits.
Dribble 1:
Heather Ann Shepard posted her Winter 2021 issue of Tin Foil Dresses featuring poems and art by c.m. brooks, Marc Mannheimer, Heather Ann Shepard, Kathy Ireland Smith, Steven B. Smith, Antonio Vallone, Russell Vidrick.
Check it out –
Winter 2021
(click on Heather’s owl pic to read)

Posted in Art, Lady, Photography, Poetry, Publications | No Comments »
Sunday, December 13th, 2020

Writing more since Trump lost.
He did lessen quality of life.
2020.12.10 – With plague
2020.12.11 – Flayed Minion
2020.12.12 – Conversation with Wife 52
2020.12.12 – The mouth breathers
2020.12.13 – There’s night
2020.12.13 – Sun gone, lights off
2020.12.13 – Last warm night of year
~ ~ ~
With plague
even the well intentioned
bring danger
~ ~ ~
Flayed Minion
Do dead dogs dream of electric meat?
Why is it trick, never treat?
Do rich itch from inner need
or just enjoy watching us bleed?
If space has end, what’s other side?
Will race ever blend till we’re of one mind?
Do prayers work when sang to the skies?
And why hasn’t God replied?
~ ~ ~
Conversation with Wife 52
A billion more people past 8 years.
“Where are they all coming from?”
Vaginas.
“Wow, must be a lot of vaginas.”
Yes especially in China.
“What?”
China vagina.
Think I’ll produce a car called the Slave,
that way we can all be Slave drivers.
“No.”
Make the front half black, back half white.
“That’s racist.”
Yes, a racist car… we can all go to the racists
and watch them circle the problem.
“I wouldn’t post that if I were you.”
~ ~ ~
The mouth breathers
keep telling me
which haiku to read
~ ~ ~
There’s night
there’s day
same coin
My beast within
barely lies below
my caution
Go ahead
starve your inner evil
it eats anyway
Best I can do
is pass the peace
and toke
Make it easier
on others
~ ~ ~
Sun gone, lights off
fire in fireplace
toke time
~ ~ ~
Last warm night of year
sitting by the fire pit
pipe in hand

Posted in Art, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
Thursday, December 10th, 2020

“who likes short shorts…” – The Royal Teens, 1958
2020.12.4 – Between the fire
2020.12.4 – The first to say
2020.12.5 – Lay back in too hot tub
2020.12.7 – Black
2020.12.7 – Shaking the fuzz
2020.12.7 – Silent echoes head
2020.12.7 – I’m not saying Walmart’s checkout is slow
2020.12.7 – Try to feed
2020.12.8 – Needle probing
2020.12.8 – Night’s not darker
2020.12.9 – Cat in lap
2020.12.9 – There’s this and that
2020.12.10 – Dogs lower their heads
2020.12.10 – The plague wind
~ ~ ~
Between the fire
and the forest
lies the flame
~ ~ ~
The first to say
“What’d you think of them apples?”
Was probably the snake in Eden.
~ ~ ~
Lay back in too hot tub
set time machine to one million years pre-being
push button
pull plug
~ ~ ~
Black
before sunrise, drinking coffee
black
~ ~ ~
Shaking the fuzz
heading for buzz
of morning’s first pipe
~ ~ ~
Silent echoes head
heavy holds heart
tiptoeing through dread
collecting the pretty parts
~ ~ ~
I’m not saying Walmart’s checkout is slow
but my green bananas ripened
while I waited
~ ~ ~
Try to feed
a sick cold hungry coyote
but it bolts in fear
~ ~ ~
Night’s not darker
than inside my head
and dawn’s a long way off
~ ~ ~
Cat on lap
rat in White House
I prefer purr
~ ~ ~
There’s this and that
some of the other
whatcha gonna do?
~ ~ ~
Dogs lower their head
wait, watch
cats control
~ ~ ~
The plague wind
brings masks, hand sanitizer
fear of fellow

Posted in Art, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
Saturday, December 5th, 2020

“Wow! Smith has been counting, and he says that this visit to the Kitchen makes it five full years for him (60 months, 62 features)! He has chosen to share today’s post with Lady, plus his father, and collaborator Wendy Shaffer. As he puts it: wife… father… friend. Many thanks to him for those fine years of poetry with his intriguing visuals—and to his adept co-posters today for sharing their work!” – Kathy Kieth, editor/publisher Medusa’s Kitchen
1 poem by my father Pappy Smith, 3 by wife Lady Smith, 1 collab with friend Wendy Shaffer, and me.
http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2020/11/so-it-goes.html
5 year quantum count: 509 poems, 537 fotos, 31 songs
Next month Lady has 7 poems and 8 fotos in Medusa and another Wendy/Smith collab.

Posted in Lady, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
Thursday, December 3rd, 2020

2020.11.29 – I can’t eat the sun
2020.12.1 – Cold rain on roof
2020.12.1 – Rain rapped roof
2020.12.2 – Winter storm
2020.12.3 – 4 a.m.
2020.12.3 – The sound of wind
~ ~ ~
I can’t eat the sun
but sure do see it feel it breathe it need it
oh to be an autotroph
~ ~ ~
Cold rain on roof
warm within
glad to know I’m glad
~ ~ ~
Rain rapped roof
calms brain
soothes soul
~ ~ ~
Winter storm
turns night
white
~ ~ ~
4 a.m.
to sunrise
my time
~ ~ ~
The sound of wind
rushing through trees
sky water

Posted in Art, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
Friday, November 27th, 2020

recent Smithverse
2020.11.24 – I light incense from the coffee fire
2020.11.25 – One from Column A
2020.11.26 – Not time but when
I light incense from the coffee fire
light joint from incense flame
lighten body with above
enlighten soul with the light
~ ~ ~
One from Column A
Small brown bulge in road —
once alive dead bump
or pile of horseshit?
Which’s better?
dump or pile?
life or lump?
Dead?
or never alive?
~ ~ ~
Not time but when
Not where but why
Form is automatic
Function much less so

Posted in Art, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
Thursday, November 26th, 2020

Haiku masters were expected to write a final death poem; here are the big 3.
~ ~ ~
falling ill on a journey
my dreams go wandering
over withered fields
– Basho, 1644-1694
~ ~ ~
the night almost past
through the white plum blossoms
a glimpse of dawn
– Buson, 1716-1784
~ ~ ~
a bath when you’re born
a bath when you die
how stupid
– Issa, 1763-1828
~ ~ ~
then there’s
~ ~ ~
Death poems
are mere delusion —
death is death
– Toko, 1710–1795
~ ~ ~
and, while not haiku, still most excellent…
~ ~ ~
Bury me when I die
beneath a wine barrel
in a tavern.
With luck
the cask will leak.
Moriya Sen’an (d. 1838)

Posted in Art, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020

Last few poems… this final year of Trump has slowed my flow, though pace does seems to be quickening.
Interesting how consecutive poems change shape.
2020.10.25 – The green leaves
2020.10.29 – 3-part Harmony
2020.10.31 – I am Wallace’s Steven
2020.11.2 – Between the step and the stair
2020.11.9 – We’re all just on a different laundry cycle
2020.11.11 – Last Summer Day
2020.11.17 – Treasure Chest
3rd poem plays with Wallace, Idaho, where I was born,
and Wallace Stevens mixed with me.
~ ~ ~
The green leaves
in their cold sleeves
wave goodbye to warm
~ ~ ~
3-part Harmony
Rain on roof
rain on deck
rain on leaves
thunder keeping time
underlit by lightning
~ ~ ~
I am Wallace’s Steven
Was Steven’s myth
Sometimes it is best
Not to reread your heroes
~ ~ ~
Between the step and the stair
the earth and the air
entangled
~ ~ ~
We’re all just on a different laundry cycle
your wash is my rinse
my cool your hot
the whole thing mostly moist and lukewarm
with different bleach for each
the lost sock extra
but shrink free
(of course)
nothing personal
as long as you got the quarters for it
and room for water run
~ ~ ~
Last Summer Day
Sun softens wax
and
sun hardens skin
but
sun soothes the soul
so
I sit in sun and soak
~ ~ ~
Treasure Chest
On my right, cat sleeps on soft rocker
to my left, dog sleeps on thick rug floor
in between, covered wife sleeps in stuffed chair
sunrise an hour away
lights off
civilization’s sounds distant
rain wind moans low
dog snores
gas fireplace dances in dark
I finish my coffee
sigh
gather the gold

Posted in Art, Photography, Poetry | No Comments »
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