As the ubiquitous and ear-splitting
peepers go unseen,
in silence, plain sight and shallow water
one salamander rows
the rounded hull of itself.
Apparent source of no profit,
absorbing ills of air and water,
its kind grows less present,
in places disappears.
For lack of an example to point out,
one buttressed by photographs
might at some date fail
to convince bright children
that this soft monster could have
existed outside of myth.
—
J.D. Smith’s seventh collection, The Place That Is Coming to Us, will be published in 2025 by Broadstone Books. Awarded a Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also published collections of fiction and essays. He lives and works in Washington, DC. Additional information is available at www.jdsmithwriter.com.
