Mirror, Mirror: In the Geography of the Head erbacce-press
'This is a substantial book, giving a clear, unsentimental insight into what it is like to suffer mental illness or to care for those who suffer. As I wrote at the beginning of this review, Mirror,Mirror is not for the faint-hearted; but I would nevertheless encourage you to take the bull by the horns and read this moving collection. Apart from introducing you to some robust and perceptive poetry, it may change your attitude to mental illness and make you grateful for what health you enjoy.' Alwyn Marriage: London Grip https://londongrip.co.uk/2022/03/london-grip-poetry-review-sam-smith/
'...These poems, which tell directly, honestly and with unsentimental compassion, of the daily lives of the patients and those whose task it is to care for them, are very powerful... This is an impressive collection of poetry, skilful, often quiet, sometimes shocking and well worth getting to grips with.' steve spence SCENE
"...the language is clear. He manages to demystify psychiatry, its processes and management, and invoke strong emotional responses. ...what strikes is the poet's genuine compassion for the plight of those stripped of dignity, of belonging..." Poetry Quarterly Review
"... brings together the threads of the psychiatric system, only to pull them apart again. Everyone is potentially vulnerable; everyone is potential victim or antagonist. By representing individuals as 'cases' throughout the collection Smith highlights the way the system can reduce the living being to a list of characteristics; their histories and futures being as inevitable as numbers on a page. These poems are full with disenchantment and irony concerning the paradox of care. And whilst Smith seems a polemicist he leaves us with no answers and no final judgement but for the evident fact that these systems are not working. Though scathing these poems are also eloquently written, providing a moving insight into the despair which devastates lives. Other subjects receive the same treatment. I would highly recommend this compilation of poems to anyone who wants to unpick these problems as well as to those who appreciate proficiently crafted poetry." Jo Whittle
"...poetry that is shockingly analytical but always compassionate, even with touches of fully-justified dark humour. Sometimes it is lyrical, with images so arresting that they constantly force the reading eye/I to stop and think. Above all the book is powerfully sceptical, and is a work of great political subversiveness. I'd put it at the top of the reading list for all ministers and civil servants at the Department of Health." Andrew Belsey
ISBN 978-1-912455-30-0 £12.95 (plus £2.00 UK postage)
Available on here - https://erbacce-press.co.uk/blank-page
Local Colour
"This is some of the finest poetry I have read for some time, spare, sinewy and precise, each image created with deft touches of smell, sound or colour to draw the reader in. Smith uses each poem to sketch a character, or a scene, psychologically acute, often reaching into the person’s past to explain the painful dilemma of their present...." Eve Kimber, Pulsar 2018
For a signed copy -
Speculations & Changes
Speculations began as Speculations on Contemporary Art; subsections include Speculations on Uses of Text Within Other Media, perceptions of, the practising of, variously numbered, et cetera.
Changes began as Changes to Your Terms & Conditions, and changed…
'My favourite Sam Smith moments [in SPECULATIONS & CHANGES] are those when he is at his most withering: joyfully accosting other 'poets' and 'artists' for crimes of pretentiousness, vanity, facile accomplishments, false spontaneity, lack of hair (!) etc. No matter the insult, I always feel that Sam Smith's attacks are justified, as they are drawn from experiences that I recognize. The 'art world' he decries is the one we know and stomach, the one filled with creatures overflowing with pomposity and snobbery. It is a pleasure to see these poisonous creatures taken down a peg.' Charlie Baylis : Stride
ISBN 978-1-909-44384-6 £10.00
Available here - http://www.knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk/speculationsandc.html
And here for a signed copy -
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Skin&Bones: Odyssey Press £6.00 with illustrations by Lynn Sutterby
"...He is a distinctive and important poet, ever sensitive to, even obsessed by, the fluidity and transience of surfaces: impressed yet shocked by the dead weight and rigidity of solid centres. His poetry evokes a cosmos structured through those elements... Sam Smith is a keen and accurate observer of the particulars of nature... The engravings, themselves made on wood, which is one of the poet's prime integuments, are not mimetic of his imagery; but are embodiments in form and design of perceptions which seem to rise from the deep subconscious; whereas the poet's images are the impress on a heightened consciousness of a close observation and appreciation of nature's structural materials. Thus, there is a true complementarity between word and art..." K V Bailey: Zene #14
"Sam Smith is a poet who uses imagery, more than other poetic techniques, to good effect and uses it... to illuminate the harsh, livid beauty of places where humanity literally scratches the earth to live. Other poems are mental landscapes of equal harshness but they are not barren of emotion. The poems are well amplified by Lyn Sutterby's woodcuts reminiscent of Eskimo and other native carvings on slivers of whalebone and wood.... These poems are mirrors in which some readers will not like the reflected truth of what we really are by instinct... Sam Smith is a much more interesting social poet than many others in this respect..." Martin Holroyd: Poetry Monthly #20
"...He is a distinctive and important poet, ever sensitive to, even obsessed by, the fluidity and transience of surfaces: impressed yet shocked by the dead weight and rigidity of solid centres. His poetry evokes a cosmos structured through those elements... Sam Smith is a keen and accurate observer of the particulars of nature... The engravings, themselves made on wood, which is one of the poet's prime integuments, are not mimetic of his imagery; but are embodiments in form and design of perceptions which seem to rise from the deep subconscious; whereas the poet's images are the impress on a heightened consciousness of a close observation and appreciation of nature's structural materials. Thus, there is a true complementarity between word and art..." K V Bailey: Zene #14
"Sam Smith is a poet who uses imagery, more than other poetic techniques, to good effect and uses it... to illuminate the harsh, livid beauty of places where humanity literally scratches the earth to live. Other poems are mental landscapes of equal harshness but they are not barren of emotion. The poems are well amplified by Lyn Sutterby's woodcuts reminiscent of Eskimo and other native carvings on slivers of whalebone and wood.... These poems are mirrors in which some readers will not like the reflected truth of what we really are by instinct... Sam Smith is a much more interesting social poet than many others in this respect..." Martin Holroyd: Poetry Monthly #20
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John the Explorer: Gecko Press £6.00 with drawings by Shelley C Smith
'...told in relentless, muscular language... Sam Smith has not written an easy book, but it's unusual and one that contains some fine writing.' Michael Bangerter: NHI
'...gathers together elements of a contemplation... the protagonist... goes on a series of meanderings... all 'making strange' the everyday. The writing is complimented by line drawings by Shelley C Smith which mirror the intriguing, often disturbing, text. Although the earthy is apparent here... it is presented with such graphic dexterity that because it is so intimate its crudity is readily forgivable... Smith presents ideas and images, symbols and lyrical tropes in ways which many other contemporary poets could benefit from considering.' Niall McGrath: Poetry Quarterly Review '
Don't be put off by past encounter with Berryman, Smith is much better with his single-name character. John has to explore, taste ivy berries once, face the elements, encounter animals, encounter encounters. John is a middle-aged baby that needs to find the world... Well illustrated by Shelley C Smith.' Geoff Stevens: Purple Patch
'...told in relentless, muscular language... Sam Smith has not written an easy book, but it's unusual and one that contains some fine writing.' Michael Bangerter: NHI
'...gathers together elements of a contemplation... the protagonist... goes on a series of meanderings... all 'making strange' the everyday. The writing is complimented by line drawings by Shelley C Smith which mirror the intriguing, often disturbing, text. Although the earthy is apparent here... it is presented with such graphic dexterity that because it is so intimate its crudity is readily forgivable... Smith presents ideas and images, symbols and lyrical tropes in ways which many other contemporary poets could benefit from considering.' Niall McGrath: Poetry Quarterly Review '
Don't be put off by past encounter with Berryman, Smith is much better with his single-name character. John has to explore, taste ivy berries once, face the elements, encounter animals, encounter encounters. John is a middle-aged baby that needs to find the world... Well illustrated by Shelley C Smith.' Geoff Stevens: Purple Patch
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The Collected Pieces: KFS, 2024
'...one of the best books to have appeared in [the] UK so far this century...’ Fire #19
‘ ...a captivating exploration of love, grief, and especially hope in a prisoner of war camp... But Pieces is also about violence, and therein lies something fascinating and even beautiful ... The lines are musical, lulling ... creates an enchanted, awful place where people are dying, where we don’t want them to stop dying, so we can keep reading...’ Donna Biffar: Orbis #121
' ...The descriptive density and personal revelation of the experience give these ‘pieces’ poetic weight .... Smith has a winning style...’ The Black Mountain Review #6
'...Smith's language has an abstract and untethered feel, but his descriptions of the natural cycle of life continuing beyond and without reference to the prisoners are compellingly precise...' L. Kiew NHI Online Review
' ...prose-poetry items which stand alone, or as a landscape of observations... This is a new approach; you need to read it yourself.' Geoff Stevens Purple Patch
'...one of the best books to have appeared in [the] UK so far this century...’ Fire #19
‘ ...a captivating exploration of love, grief, and especially hope in a prisoner of war camp... But Pieces is also about violence, and therein lies something fascinating and even beautiful ... The lines are musical, lulling ... creates an enchanted, awful place where people are dying, where we don’t want them to stop dying, so we can keep reading...’ Donna Biffar: Orbis #121
' ...The descriptive density and personal revelation of the experience give these ‘pieces’ poetic weight .... Smith has a winning style...’ The Black Mountain Review #6
'...Smith's language has an abstract and untethered feel, but his descriptions of the natural cycle of life continuing beyond and without reference to the prisoners are compellingly precise...' L. Kiew NHI Online Review
' ...prose-poetry items which stand alone, or as a landscape of observations... This is a new approach; you need to read it yourself.' Geoff Stevens Purple Patch
apostrophe combe (£7.99) Originally published by boho/bluechrome press, who have now unfortunately gone into receivership. Text by Sam Smith with photos by Neil Carter & Gemma Dart
"...a most attractively produced book of poems and prose... interleaved with fine and original photographs by Gemma Dart and Neil Carter... text and the photographs together successfully "...create a sense of place and time", the place being North Devon, round Ilfracombe. Those who like Clare's poetry will find much to enjoy in this high quality work." Peter Cox: The John Clare Society Newsletter #83
"...unassailable talent..." North Devon Journal
"...a most attractively produced book of poems and prose... interleaved with fine and original photographs by Gemma Dart and Neil Carter... text and the photographs together successfully "...create a sense of place and time", the place being North Devon, round Ilfracombe. Those who like Clare's poetry will find much to enjoy in this high quality work." Peter Cox: The John Clare Society Newsletter #83
"...unassailable talent..." North Devon Journal
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- for a signed copy (UK only)
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Rooms & Dialogues
£8.99 '...As they stand, the verse sections of the various rooms convey the coherent and rewarding variety of a very visual patchwork. However, the accompanying "notes for reading" have a dynamic and entirely different effect on the reader... a lot of the "notes for reading" are amusing, underlining writers' pomposity and loss of a sense of irony... As the "dialogues" develop, they embrace an enormous range of subjects, but the continuum is a philosophical one, where Smith, in a more liquid style, explores an extraordinary wealth of ideas, with no shortage of irony... Rooms & Dialogues is a remarkable achievement, where two bold conceits are explored in an assured, accessible and expansive manner. Each "room" asks its own question; each "dialogue" nurtures its own idea. Risks are taken and rewarded. The beauty of the book is its ability to make the reader think...' Will Daunt: Envoi 'For me this book is by far the best thing that Sam Smith has done. In Rooms & Dialogues he seems to have found the perfect medium for his particular mix of caring humanism and bitter observation. The Rooms poems have a concrete presence while yet being enigmatic — they have a sense of absurd ritual. Perhaps the aim is more satirical than ironic but I have a hunch that this work has almost achieved an effect in excess of its author's intention — might be wrong. If there is a problem — and this is more evident in Dialogues — it is when Sam is too direct, then the tails of the poems become little more than opinion pieces, but mostly he avoids that through a sense of formal balance. The Bluechrome house-style suited this book too, not that important perhaps but it does help to foreground the feeling of the work. Another happy accident perhaps? ‘ Tim Allen: Terrible Work |
