Biography
I am an organic farmer in Harleysville, PA, USA.
Samples
Wilmington, Delaware (2016) He stands white and alone, one smokestack raised above the highway. Strong as one who burns eternally. I am fidgeting in front of my calm father. We are moving incessantly and without purpose on all sides; so many children to provide for. And he indulges us with silent love. Shields us from the world where everything burns, is burning and we too are fire. Dedication (2015) Insects replace the snow of late December and I give myself to no cause but living. The blossoms are all wrong. Broken phenology set them bursting in winter and I can only say it reminds me of another story where the heroine takes shelter in a machine that drops birds from the sky - but what does that tell you? My best instincts could send us migrating to a dead sea. I can only give myself completely to whatever actions relieve the tightness in my chest. Seek Shelter (2013) From the smooth places where people and objects collide at energies nearing the point of ignition, and voices boom through air thick with a future you try not to imagine, seek shelter. There are creatures that live trapped in the earth, sealed in clumps of soil. Think of how easily they die when the plow breaks their homes. Think of how impossible it would be to kill them all. But what of the terrible fires to come? Think of Suzue Oshima, home sick on August 6, 1945, who waited in her collapsed house for three days after the blast while her coworkers’ ashes dispersed in the factory yard. The wood lice burrow into cracks in the bark when the rain comes, on trees that will never know a way forward. Find the cracks that lead nowhere and seek shelter.
All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.
Blog entries by Alex Smith
Visiting (05/11/2017)
Application (05/11/2017)
F2 (16/03/2017)
Jessie (02/03/2017)
The carbon cycle (06/01/2017)
Untitled (31/12/2016)
Wilmington, Delaware (21/06/2016)
Winter Growing (26/01/2016)
Dedication (26/01/2016)
Vineyards (20/07/2015)
Read more entries by Alex Smith…
Blog link: https://www.writeoutloud.net/blogs/alexsmith
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Comments
Hi Alex
Thank you for your comments - I'm very pleased you liked them. It's a real compliment when it comes from someone whose writing I admire :)
I want to read all your work, but not today. Duty calls. I've been too long at the keyboard already.
What do you teach?
You have a fine face; a man of the sun with a great smile. Presuming the photo is of yourself, but who knows? Regardless, it's a good image to accompany your work.
Hi Alex
I like your poem 'return to the end of the world' It has a kind of other world quality to it which is fascinating.
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Laura Taylor
Fri 13th Jan 2017 12:00
Hi Alex - thank you for your note on Kaleidoscope ? Glad you enjoyed it ?