Jessica Smith

The Callow Heart

Inside of anyone you see
There is s heart of candle-wax
and a slender string
That is lighted
by trivial fires
of orange...
So that when
A heartbreaking incident
Occurs
The wick burns crimson
and after a time
Your heart
Callow and soft
Is melted hard
and nothing, now,
will light it
Because it is wiser
than it once was
when faint orange glows
set it afire.


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from : "Juvenilia: Poems 1992-1998" -
2006 - Jessica Smith - LuLu publishing

Bio - Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Jessica Smith received her B.A. summa cum laude in English and Comparative Literature and her M.A. in Comparative Literature from SUNY Buffalo, where she participated in the Poetics Program and started the poetry magazine name. She is now a Ph.D. student in English at UVA, where she devotes her free time to outside voices and the D.C. poetry scene. Jessica's most recent work can be found in Drill, Ferrum Wheel, OEI, American Weddings, and Filling Station. Recent and forthcoming chapbooks include bird-book (House Press), The Plasticity of Poetry and Telling Time (No Press), and Shifting Landscapes (above/ground press). Her first book, Organic Furniture Cellar, will be released in April (see outsidevoices.org for updates).