Mark Smith-Soto

November 3, 2014

“Satori” by Mark Smith-SotoPosted by

Mark Smith-Soto

SATORI

In the budding white morning I crawl
out of bed and wander barefoot down
the stairs and yawn into the kitchen
where you’re making coffee, and I
see a woman making coffee and wearing
what must be my red shirt, and I watch
her move sternly as if I shouldn’t be there,

or as if I should be remembering to be polite,
because truth is I’m just then getting
my bearings, wondering why everything
shines so clear, the rhombus of sun
on the oak table, the copper fan stuttering
overhead, and I watch as she walks
to the fridge and pulls and disappears
 
behind the door, disappears except
for the red sleeve I almost recognize,
and the curled fingers on the handle
that I know I must now go up and touch,
and it comes to me then that I have
wandered in my life from dream to dream,
with a lotus of awakening about to open.

—from Rattle #43, Spring 2014
Tribute to Love Poems

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Mark Smith-Soto: “Growing up in Costa Rica, I began to love poetry listening to family members recite the work of Alfonsina Storni and Rubén Darío around the dinner table. I didn’t always understand the verses, but they sounded beautiful to me, and I knew that someday I would want to write some of my own.” (website)

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August 25, 2014

“Streamers” by Mark Smith-SotoPosted by

Mark Smith-Soto

STREAMERS

I caught this morning, mourning, sight
of you who flew into sky
you thought your own

and caught the sun down
to the marrow bones, tender embers
scorched there, sputter-guttered there—

let your blackened, blown feathers
fan our rage, outrage us, and now, here,
engage, oh, engage

our careworn careless care—
flame on, flame on you seared ones,
dear ones, you,

take us by the heart, make us see
the light

—Poets Respond
August 25, 2014

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__________

Mark Smith-Soto: “With all the sorrow in the news these days, you’d think the story of birds being ignited in flight by solar plants out in California would not particularly catch the eye. But maybe because I have long believed that harnessing solar energy is a very positive thing we can do for the environment, it did hit me hard, and made me angry that we can be so carelessly cruel in carrying out our good intentions. Hopkins’ “Windhover” then came to mind and inspired the poem.” (webpage)

Note: This poem has been published exclusively online as part of a new project in which poets respond to current events. A poem written within the last week about an event that occurred within the last week will appear every Sunday at Rattle.com—and this week we’ve decide to publish a bonus poem on Monday, as well. Our only criterion for selection is the quality of the poem, not its editorial position; any opinions expressed are solely those of the poet and do not necessarily reflect those of Rattle’s editors. To read poems from past weeks, visit the Poets Respond page. To have your own poem considered for next week’s posting, submit it here before midnight Friday PST. 

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