Mitch Smith

Garden

Frost Times

SLAM THE TOWN 2024 A National Poetry Month – Virtual Interactivity of POEMS FROM HOME to ALL OVER Frost Times Three nights in a row. Crystal clear below freezing. My old tomato vines, still brave with a blossom or two, on Halloween night felt their cells burst, contents lacerated and crushed

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Commentary

The Perception Paradox

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Nature

Searching for the Dark

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Commentary

Book Bans by the Numbers

Nature

Ophilia

It is not a hurricane, but still. That's a pretty impressive weather system, looking to drown all the hamlets in its path. Right now the center is sitting over northeast North Carolina with sustained winds of 45 mph. It looks like it is headed straight at Charlottesville, but

Garden

The Carrot Cabana

Each year for several now, I have sown a fall/winter succession of carrots. They grow well in the cooler days of Fall here. And in late December, during the darkest days of the year, it is an emotional and gastronomic delight to dig up iridescent orange carrots out of

Garden

As High As an Elephant's Eye

They call the wind Mariah. I put off growing sweet corn my whole life. It’s too fussy. It takes up too much room. The price of confetti on the Chicago commodities market is too high. You know. The usual. Three years ago I accidentally wandered into the Sweet Corn

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Commentary

Brooks Has Found the Bad Guys

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Commentary

Ron DeSantis and Chris Rufo Are Trying to Herd Cats

Society

July 4th Celebrations

I’ve been mulling over Linda’s email this morning and the decidedly mixed bag regarding the conception, birth, and growth of the country. My fondest memory of July 4th celebrations comes from 1988 when we were on sabbatical in Boston. We spent the whole day on the Charles River

Nature

Talking to Toads

I confess. It’s true. I talk to the toads. Not that I go looking for conversation. But often, as I scuffle hoe the garden, a modest size clump of soil will suddenly take up animation and leap off to one side. “Well, hello there! I see you now.” “It’

Garden

A Garden with Weeds

Five-thirty PM. A wasted day. There was so much to be done and I had done none of it. Hunched over a keyboard. Working on an essay I wanted to finish yesterday. It’s not like I don’t know what to say. Snippets of words, run-on sentences, and half-outlines

Humor

Big Boys Don't Cry

In response to a poem from my friend Jim LaVilla-Havelin “Big boys don’t cry” the mantra often heard in my youth to this day for some ends. The few warned: it could cripple a generation of men. Your voice rings true born by electrons electronically encoded compressed for size.

Nature

Spring Winds

The spring winds blowing through the woods this evening are not conducive to peaceful thoughts. The tree tops are flailing about wildly, undoubtedly settling old scores with their nearest neighbors, shedding branches to the ground. An arboreal hair cutting. The house is reverberating with the sound of flexing copper roofing

Garden

Spring Equinox

Another celestial milestone passed. And another seasonal milestone passed too: I finished putting my seed potatoes in the ground today. The old farmer’s tale, at least around here, is to get your potatoes planted before St. Patrick’s Day. I missed that by a wee bit. In recompense, I’

Nature

Exchanging Places

Our crossover season is beginning. The first summer tourists, the Eastern Phoebe, have arrived with bobbing tails and eponymous song. While the Juncos, our winter residents, haven't yet packed their bags for the long flight north. A mid-day Saturday at the beach as the rental units change hands.

Nature

Seasonal Confusion

Our weather just went from winter seasonal crappy to high summer anomaly in under 48 hours. My weather station is not yet a teenager but today was the warmest day in February it has ever recorded over its young 10 year history. A high of 81.1 degrees F. It

Humor

The Waste of a Girlfriend

This morning’s Washington Post had a headline reading: “Neo-Nazi charged in plot to attack Md. power grid with girlfriend” This strikes me as a rather reckless waste of a girlfriend! I recommend attacking with something like a lance instead. Sort of Don Quixote style.

Garden

Calendars

Don't let anyone fool you. February is the longest month. This morning I caught garlic shoots peeking through the straw calculating the cold. Such optimism!

Garden

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The time when seed catalogs show up in the mail!! Yay!! I can trace this heritage back to grammar school days in Rochester when the Harris Seeds catalog would arrive. I’m pleased to say that Harris Seeds (“since 1879”) is still going strong, although my own seed alliances have

Commentary

Dead Poets

If I could And he asked politely I would gladly teleport Matthew Walther back to medieval Brighton.

Nature

Batten Down the Hatches

The flow of electrons is under siege here. Power has been flickering on and off all morning. Our just-OK system of stringing wire for miles from pole to pole is again proving to be barely just OK. And the 2-plus inches of rain dropped on the region yesterday is now

Nature

The Welcome

I am following the arrival of a pair of redheaded woodpeckers, ordinarily quite rare in these woods. Borne in on the tide of excess acorns, I'm told. They join their downy, hairy, and pileated brethren. The blue jays concluded there was nothing they could do about it and

Garden

When a Tree Falls

Tending the kale in my winter garden, an old tree fell in the woods, finally downed by the December winds. I can report that it made a sound because I heard it.