How Did I Get This Job? - collage by douglas brent smith, 27 December 1987
i said to you
our shoes in the sand
your hand in my hand
in a trance of truth
i said to you
my best inner secrets
as the sun set
and a light breeze
caught your brown hair
remarkable
i said to you
touching your cheek with care
like a leaf
whispering what
i should have said
years ago
there is love that
may be delayed
but not denied
true then, true on that beach.
true still.
-- douglas brent smith
Chaos In The Middle - sketch by douglas brent smith (with help from Christopher Morgan Cizewski Smith.
the left hand starts
a bass line avoiding
familiar notes, for accidentals
the right hand takes a ride
let me sing of your changes (andante)
swell...swell...who can tell?
let me glissando your joys (forte!)
and then mid-transposition
the two of us harmonize
and bring all the mystery
down to size,
-- douglas brent smith
white cloud blue sky sudden darkness
odor from a distant unknown source
bitter tasting, no permission
chemicals drifted in a virgin course
like a losing hand played to a devil's trick
for no reason half the town is sick
a stranger talking in a legal voice
bottled water is the only choice
dark days dry from a ruined well
twenty square miles of obnoxious smell
poison water makes a person think
tainted life line not a drop to drink.
-- douglas brent smith