Spending the Light: Poems 1955-2003

Spiritual kin to Gertude Stein, Tom Smith exalts in inspired wordplay, running the gamut from sublime nonsense to the most surprising sorts of common sense, so deftly that it’s sometimes hard to tell which is which. He is a virtuoso of the ruggedly original.

–Harry Smith
publishing, poet, essayist (Pulpsmith, The Sexy Sixties)

In Spending the Light we are given…the distilled wisdom and wit and experience of a lifetime, with more than half a century of it devoted to creating memorable and original poetry. There is an extraordinary diversity of form and tone and a rich variety of dramatic voices, not least of which is the clear, strong voice of Tom Smith himself.

–George Garrett
poet, novelist, author of Whistling in the Dark

These poems sing of the domestic and the familiar and in their quiet power make the humdrum numinous. The poet’s facility with simile and metaphor allows quiet observation and wry reaction to soar in significance. His classical allusions escape pedantry and his insights, religious and secular, as well as his uncluttered observation of children, are an important facet of his poetic strength.

–David Watmough
author of Thy Mother’s Glass, Hunting With Diana, et al.

Tom Smith is a poet in Paul Goodman mode–a family man with well-honed peripheral vision. From Spending the Light we discover that changing a life need not mean hiding a life.

–Rudy Kikel
author of Period Pieces and
poetry editor of Bay Windows and The South End News