excerpt from: Rosa by Mende Smith
ROSA
Walking ten miles every day
in the land of opportunists,
collecting thrown away rubbish
from dumpsters and doorways,
in empty cars and bins left
out at the curbside
like candidates’ faces
on stickers, forgotten.
The bird-woman gets thirsty
scouring dirty alleys
with so little change to spare
for her hours of
gathering.
She stopped in front of the
heavy glass door of the fast food
restaurant where I was going
for a cold drink
and a short break from
the ninety-degree afternoon.
Mende Smith is the author of two collections of poetry, HollywoodLand (Noble Swine) and Veritas Cabaret (Lummox Press). More than thirty additional pieces have been featured in anthologies, small press projects, and Literary Zines (poem and prose form), as well as a number of essays, feature magazine articles, and interviews. Smith’s poems have been performed or received public readings in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, the United Kingdom, Paris France, and New Zealand. Her 2012 online radio venue, Writing on Demand, was a smash on satellite radio.
In 2014, in Los Angeles, Smith founded The Writers Round Talk Show at one of LA’s oldest venues, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. Smith studied poetics and journalism in pursuit of her writing career, and has pulled in a nonprofit minor with her passion for activism. She works as editor for a variety of works for small presses and is also active as a script editor freelancing for Find Art Films. Most recently, she is running as a Green Party candidate for a seat on the Santa Monica City Council, to carry on the people’s revolution. website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/msmendesmith/
