tamara nicholl-smith

Tamara Nicholl-Smith is a Texas-based poet and workshop leader. Her poetry has appeared on two Albuquerque city bus panels, one parking meter, various radio shows, a spoken-word classical piano fusion album, and in publications, such as America, Ekstasis, The Examined Life Journal, Kyoto Journal, and Joi De Vivre (forthcoming). She is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Saint Thomas (Houston). Her poem on Saint Jerome will be a permanent part of the display featuring a perfect replica of the Peplin Edition of the Gutenberg Bible to be installed at the University of Saint Thomas Library in Houston. She enjoys puns and likes her bourbon neat. Visit her at tamaranichollsmith.com or connect on Twitter @tnichollsmith.

song for the slow road

I forget sometimes that I have aged,

that time has turned me snowcapped,

especially when I see you, daughter.

It can be like looking at my own face.

My heart longs with yours,

as you gaze upon the road below,

on fire with red-leafed flame,

your possible future,

riding towards or going past.

When I go to rise, my bones creak

like door hinges craving oil.

Memory twines its vine branches,

round the rough porch pillars.

Just yesterday, you were small,

swaddled and scented with milk-breath.

I am not yet ready to yield

to the forgetful mist

though I slow to a lumber

'long the moss-lined lane

caught in the linger of lowing

cows, their plainchant resting

like fog on the far field.

The air cools,

yet I am filled

with a brightness

that defies

the shortening light.

Read more of Tamara’s work in Solum Journal Volume IV.