WorldView Magazine: Micronesia

Lines of Joy and Memory, Death and Rebirth: DEMO by Charlie Smith

DEMO | Poems By Charlie Smith W.W. Norton   Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum   Early on in Charlie Smith’s recent collection comes the poem “Samsara,” lines of joy and memory and death and rebirth. How it begins: “The ocean, uncomfortable with itself, bangs and slurs, / mixing flavors, holding its own against infinity, scarred with ice.” Before it ends, he assesses, “I’ve caught up lately on everything / but time.” In between, the poem traverses continents and piano concertos, seasons and marriages, plum flowers and the first pear blossoms. The images summoned are in a voice at once exuberant and...