Smith, Dave 1981
In spatter of spring shade and sun,
I spread my grandfather’s death
on his picnic table, his keys, notes
on cars he owned, travels he made,
repair kits for everything, an aerial
map of the Chesapeake Bay.
– Dave Smith, “A Boy With Ringworm”
Read this interview with Dave Smith from How a Poem Happens:
How a Poem Happens
Dave Smith’s recent books include Afield: Writers on Bird Dogs (Skyhorse, 2010), edited with Robert DeMott; The Wick of Memory: New and Selected Poems 1970-2000 (LSU, 2000); Little Boats, Unsalvaged (LSU, 2005); and Hunting Men: Reflections on a Life in American Poetry (LSU, 2006). He is Chairman of The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.
They hawk the yard, heaving big beaks,
laborers with picks, hoes, mattocks,
black all over them the formal suits
something has taught them to hang up
in bright air, brushed to sleekest shine,
and worn with the insouciance of rakes.
– Dave Smith, “Morning Grackles”
Watch Dave Smith read some of his work:
