My first caesura
was a clay gully
in a corn field,
a place to pause
and breathe in
metered green
heat. The first
stanza I worked
with my own
hands—a yellow-
leafed quatrain
of tobacco rows,
moving straight
as destiny toward
the blackberry-
spangled fence
and tractor turn. I bore
doves, quails,
fish, frogs, melons,
and beans home
like a personal
lexicon of flesh
for body
and soul,
gathered flint,
scrapers, points,
and pottery shards
to build
a metaphor for being
buried,
but never ceasing
to be.
Randy Smith founded and directs the BFA program in creative writing at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. Program alum, Angie Thomas (2011), was nominated for the 2017 National Book Award for her debut novel, The Hate U Give, a project she started as her senior creative thesis at Belhaven. Randy has published poetry previously in Ruminate, Rock & Sling, and The Best of Sandhills. Six of his poems are included in the anthology Open Hands: The Tupelo Press 30/30 Project: February 2016 (Tupelo Press, 2017).