Merril D. Smith

Words as Homing Pigeons Fly

after "Duplex" by Jericho Brown

Take this feather-dream, a

shiny talisman, a poem

river-rippled, its axis

tilted, punctuated by a

breeze, apostrophes of clouds. Gesture

your soul’s willingness to fly toward

magnetic north, to follow the stars home.

Merril D. Smith writes from southern New Jersey. Her work has been published widely in poetry journals and anthologies. Her full-length poetry collection, River Ghosts (Nightingale & Sparrow Press) was Black Bough Poetry’s December 2022 Book of the Month. Find her at Bluesky: @merrildsmith.bsky.social; Instagram: mdsmithnj Blog: merrildsmith.org