J.D. Smith
Spotlight: J.D. Smith
by Joshua Mehigan
Book Reviews
by Barbara Egel
Poems by…
Brian Allgar
Peter Austin
Bruce Bennett
Jerome Betts
Seth Brown
Cheryl Caesar
Dan Campion
J.P. Celia
Catherine Chandler
Edmund Conti
Barbara Lydecker Crane
Rhina P. Espaillat
Norah Esty
Daniel Galef
David Galef
Ken Gosse
Julia Griffin
Anthony Harrington
Robert Jackson
Melissa Juchniewicz
Barbara Loots
Amit Majmudar
Bruce McGuffin
Bob McKenty
Susan McLean
Chris O’Carroll
Patricia O’Neil
Orel Protopopescu
Jessy Randall
Kim Roberts
Judith Sanders
Robert Schechter
Ed Shacklee
Alex Steelsmith
Julie Steiner
Katherine Barrett Swett
Marilyn L. Taylor
Pat Valdata
Cara Valle
Cody Walker
Cover photo: “Nesting,” by Frank Schäfer
We dedicate this issue to John Whitworth (Dec. 11, 1945-April 20, 2019), a much-missed contributor to Light and many, many other journals. For a taste of his brilliant and generous life, read our appreciation here. And for a rollicking verse tribute to John by Ed Shacklee, click here. (Other tributes to John can be found at The HyperTexts, The Society of Classical Poets, poetry pf, and (soon) Better Than Starbucks.)
The soul is like a little mouse.
He hides inside the body’s house
With anxious eyes and twitchy nose
As in and out he comes and goes,
A friendly, inoffensive ghost
Who lives on tea and buttered toast. …
So we go on, my soul and I,
Until, the day I have to die,
He packs his bags, puts on his hat
And leaves for ever. Just like that.
~ John Whitworth
(excerpt from “The Soul, a Poem,” first published in The Spectator)