Above Ground with Clint Smith
Clint Smith is an Afro-American male with a PhD from Harvard. He is a professional writer, a published poet and author, and thirty years younger than me. Smith has far surpassed any goals I ever dreamed about, and one would think we do not have much in common, however, after reading his recently released second book of poems, I feel a surprising kinship.
When I found Above Ground among the new releases at my library, its colorful, contemporary jacket cover and slender size grabbed my attention. Skimming its pages, I became enmeshed in a rhythm of natural speech and was hooked. Smith’s skill at lyrical narrative lured me into dropping the hardback into my sturdy “Books Are My Bag” tote.
In some of the poems, Smith shares his roots, including his upbringing in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina hit the area and his family fled to Texas. In others, his prose voice his anger or fear about things that are wrong in our world today, including violence and cultural injustices. But the majority explore what it meant for him to become a father, and these are the capsules I enjoyed the most.
His style reminds me of former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, a gentleman almost twenty years my senior. The senior poet writes with the same wit, tenderness, and concern as Smith, and I believe they would make a great pair. (For reference, check out his “Early Morning,” which features two cats, “The Names,” written to honor the victims of the September 11th attacks, and “Forgetfulness,” which explores the inevitable decline of memory as we age.)
Smith’s collection includes 103 poems written in free verse, with titles like “Waiting on a Heartbeat,” “FaceTime,” and “Ode to the First Smile.” I particularly enjoyed the lyrics that express Smith’s wonder of the world through the eyes of his children. For these, he chose playful titles like “You Ask Me What Sounds a Giraffe Makes” and “The Most Remarkable Things About Dinosaurs.”
My favorite of all, though, might be “It Is Halloween Night and You Are Dressed as a Hot Dog.” Smith employs playful language as a trick to please readers and the poem is truly a treat. It reminds me of an adorable picture of my son and his wife dressed as bananas while holding their first-born little “monkey.” Here is an excerpt:
Why we have chosen to bundle you into a costume
of cured meat I do not know. But your mother
is dressed as a pickle and I am dressed as a bottle
of ketchup and together we make a family of ballpark
delicacies.
Poet Ilya Kaminsky endorses Above Ground in a quote that summarizes my feelings as well: “Smith keeps us above the ground, rooted into our world, and blessed to be alive, despite it all.” His poems speak to me in a personal manner as if we are friends and he is telling a story. I hope you search for and find the volume in your library (or bookstore) and discover delight in the poetry of the astounding young Mr. Smith, just like I did.
