J.D. Smith
J.D. Smith sagely examines and savagely excavates life of “the innocent and the contrite” in his seventh book of poetry, The Place That Is Coming to Us. His work begs the question: What type of world are we creating? From poems about “Sea Jellies” and “Canine,” to places like “Panajachel” and “At Finzel Swamp, or “Questions on Toads,” Smith’s gaze is far reaching, keenly observant, and honest. In the poem, “Apology in Siege,” the poet would “still like to imagine some god / would help, but” he observes, “that line looks broken/like the water, the gas and electricity.” With intellect, dry humor, and wit, Smith strips the world back, making visible that which the reader may overlook. Herein lies this book’s beauty and necessity. Somehow, Smith remains hopeful in the face of a questionable future. Living, the poet seems to say, is “To watch the animals / as more than travelers across a field of vision, / more than objects spotted in a vehicle’s window…” Even if connections in this world are illusions, dream of them, dream of more.