Catching Up With the `Times’Author Victoria G. Smith

By: Bob Boyer

 

If you are like me, you have probably been noticing the name of Victoria G. Smith (aka “Marivic” and “Vicki”) more and more often in this publication. Her poetry has appeared in each issue of “VIA Times,” practically since our editors met her in 2011. Her picture graced the March issue this year (2016) in which she was featured. If you haven’t read the article, you will want to do so. It is excellent, has lots of pictures, and lists the author’s works and awards.

While the March, 2016 issue is a good way to catch up on Victoria G. Smith, you may also want to catch up by reading or re-reading some of her recent “VIA Times” poems, which is what I did this afternoon. As usual I have a stack of recent issues handy, so I got to spend a pleasant hour with the six most recent of Vicky’s poems. If you like language that sings and images that pop like champagne bubbles of thought, you will enjoy these poems. And you will discover the familiar in new ways.

“Inhabiting the Doubt” in the July issue spoke to me in a particularly personal way as I attempted to guide my grandson through his unwilling way to church confirmation. Finally, we read a few lines from a favorite poet of mine, Ranier Maria Rilke, in which he advises, “Live the questions . . . .” My grandson’s reaction was, “Yeah, that’s me. OK.” Here’s how Vicki put the same thought with delightful sound and wit:

“Here, we’re content to wear

the cilice of uncertainty,

laugh at the unpluckable

itch of unknowing. . . .”

A poem which is pure lyrical fun is Vicki’s April appeal to her Muse, her source of inspiration:

“Might you appoint your charms to bless,

This creator-soul’s restlessness?”

In a more serious tone, the March poem entitled “Messenger” pits a speaker, presumably a poet, against another poet. The poet being addressed has apparently undermined the speaker in some negative way but is guilty of pride, which leads to a fall. In soaring imagery the speaker poet praises humility and a simple though sublimely fierce nature:

“Better to be a rose blooming under

The desert sun, where rabbits feast

On its nectar, delivering it up

To the hawks to kiss the sky.”

In her February poem, Vicki achieves an entirely different effect with imagery, including a surprising but whimsical finale. The speaker of the poem is reflecting on the comforting effect of a close friend who admired and encouraged the speaker’s writing. The close friend has now left or possibly died, but the positive memories remain:

“I think of you on cool, sunny mornings,

Or quiet, wistful afternoons, or at dusk,

Pregnant with the promise of storm—

When solace comes easy

As enjoying a hot cup of tea.”

I interpret “Poem” in the title “Pondering Upon a Poem” (March) as “riddle” or “puzzle.” This poem rests on the uncomfortable paradox of opposites being “One?” (as in, must we?) I must confess that this and the next are the only two of the poems in which I peeked at Vicki’s “Poet’s Notes” that come after each poem. She views the poem in political terms, which I see, but any set of opposites that may have to become joined can fit, which is a strength of the poem.

In “People’s Poet” (May), Vickie again shows a knack for sharp, witty political satire. The “People” plead with the “Poet,” “Give us hope.” Poet’s response, however, is “I’m sorry to disappoint/ A poet rises no higher / than her source.” In this case the “source” is inescapably a Marcos or potentially a Duterte or Trump. Scary but good. Contact Bob Boyer at Robert.boyer@snc.edu or