CLOSING TIME I | Jamie L. Smith

One humid Memphis night,
in a smoked-out rest beat
between Moanin’ and Tensions,

my father told me, just after last call,
between sips of single malt, he wasn’t sure
he could endure, if the pain came back.

For the first time I saw past the man
who lifted me onto horses and carried
our aged dogs down ramps. I saw past

the man who let me go
even when he wanted to hold me
closer. I saw the bass strings tighten

around his throat, heard the chains
rattling up his ribs with each inhale
and I promised

when the time came
I’d help him go.  

Jamie L. Smith is the author of the poetry collection The Flightless Years and Trojan Horses: Voices from the Opioid Crisis, winner of the 2025 Unleash Press Book Prize. Her chapbook Mythology Lessons, a notable mention in Best American Essays 2021, was winner of Tusculum Review's 2020 Nonfiction Prize. Her work has been published in Southern Humanities Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Best New Poets, The Good Life Review and anthologies by Indi(e) Blue, Allegory Ridge and Beyond Queer Words. Find more of her work at jlsmithwriter.com

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