Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets and a few from other states. This week’s featured poet is Daniel Smith.
Smith’s poetry is grounded in the rural Midwest, particularly his family’s dairy farm where he lived and farmed for over 50 years. He says his works speak of his commitment to an ancestral place and way of life, and to the emotional turbulence leaving such a life presents. With the practicality of a farmer and the syntax of a poet, Smith explores the changing landscape of rural America. His writing has appeared in literary journals nationwide. Smith retired from active farming in 2008, and since then he has worked as a counselor for farm families in crisis. Today, he lives with his wife, Cheryl, on a small farm in Wisconsin’s Driftless Region. Here are two of his love poems.
Absence
Distance swells
whenever you are away.
As if an ocean suddenly
sprung up between us.
Time slows and I find myself
pacing away the hours.
The dogs grow quiet, their heads
turned toward the door.
I can’t help but think
this is life had we never met.
I can’t help but think
this is life should you never return.
End Game
Let there be a window box
outside a window easily opened
filled with red and white geraniums
the colors of Wisconsin
for Wisconsin is where we met
and where we came back to
after all those years of work
and worry on a far-away farm
to shelter in our Winter House
under red oaks and white pines
happily tending a window box
happily tending each other
