Vague blessing at first,

this title, then this curse

leaves its recipient to guess

at what is failure, what success,

two sides of the same coin, bent

and quickly spent.

J.D. Smith's seventh collection of poetry, The Place That Is Coming to Us,  will be published in 2025 by Broadstone Books, and he has received a  Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts. His other  books include the fiction collection Transit and the essay collection Dowsing and Science. Additional information and occasional updates are available at www.jdsmithwriter.com.