magnify the later loss of a second parent. Smith is honest in showing us that our previous experience of loss does not make processing a subsequent bereavement any easier. In many ways, it can be harder. Her father was her ‘Everything worth having’ because she had already lost her mother years before.


Smith’s deeply personal exploration of this most universal of themes is admirably honest and incredibly brave. Her exploration of the theme of loss raises many questions and gives 


POWER/POWERLESSNESS


The twin themes of power and powerlessness are explored in many of Smith’s poems, whether individual power, or lack thereof; power within relationships; power to decide the future; and the oppression of the powerless by the powerful.


‘Dominion over the Beasts of the Earth’ explores power within relationships, and the powerlessness experienced when trying to compel a partner to stay in a relationship that they don’t want to be in. We see this in the tragi-comic image of the ending of the relationship between the speaker and Mauricio,  by an army/ Of striped shirts’.We also see the seductive power of the past and the power of memory when the speaker admits how her ex: ‘even now/ Tries to climb back/ Along the frayed thread of dreams.’


A different kind of power is explored in ‘The Searchers’. This is the power of the patriarchy,  her will, and then her own uncle ‘wants to kill her for surviving’, perhaps even for being pregnant, even though she would have had no choice in the matter. Even when Debbie  away: ‘faces/ She barely remembers// Smile into her fear/ With questions and the wish,/ The impossible wish, to forget.’ But, by using Debbie as an archetype (a typical example, a symbol), the speaker highlights how many of the things that happen to us are not within our power or control: ‘Why// Do we insist our lives are ours?’ Even nature is denied the power of choice: ‘The land went on living,// Dying. What else could it choose?’ The poem presents us with a bleak view of our powerless place in the greater scheme of things.


500 VERSE 2025


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