Meg Smith is a writer, journalist, dancer and events producer living in Lowell, Mass., and who spent part of her childhood in Somerville. In addition to The Lyrical Somerville, her poetry has appeared in The Cafe Review, The Lowell Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Poetry Bay, Acropolis Review, and many more. She is a 2025 nominee for the Stanley Kunitz poetry medal. Her journalism work has been honored by the New England Newspaper and Press Association, including with first-place awards for reporting on religion, race and ethnic issues and social issues. She is creator of Poe in Lowell, honoring Edgar Allan Poe’s three visits to Lowell, and a board member of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. She is author of six poetry books and a short fiction collection, The Plague Confessor. Her new short fiction collection, Night’s Wheel, is due out from Emu Books. She welcomes visits to megsmithwriter.com.

Meg Smith

The River Funcheon. Gleannúir, Co. Cork, Ireland

As purple rushes in, an eddy grows,
and these stone steps of a castle’s moss
can no longer carry anything like a sure
dream, or diplomat.
My ancestors stand on the other side
of the water, and between us,
the flock: white, grace in their composition,
and the pass, invisible. Night grows and grows,
bats dither, flowers recede.

The Dream Amid the Marshes

My love reflects the islands,
in winter’s heart; no rushes bend,
no slate of ice disturbs us.
We are all exact in our blue.

Dreams do not submerge us,
reeds do not bind us,
and island pools protect us.

Sloe Hill

After autumn, a syllable against the ice,
I am still, as I remain, dusk’s own creature.
The path of snow rises to me, and light has quit
the white passage, the muted footprints.
The sun whispers as a tawny ghost through pine.
The blue presses darkly.
Such a place and in such places, the heart understands
no need for love, or words, or an unbroken dream.

— Meg Smith

To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143
dougholder@post.harvard.edu