Merril D. Smith
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merrildsmith.bsky.social
Merril D. Smith
@merrildsmith.bsky.social
1.1K followers 780 following 3.3K posts
Poet, Historian, Lover of river walks and the sea. Cat Lady. Poetry Collection: River Ghosts (Nightingale & Sparrow Press) New Poetry Collection: Held Inside the Folds of Time (Jane's Studio Press).
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merrildsmith.bsky.social
Merril D. Smith @merrildsmith.bsky.social · 22d
Good morning! A poem for #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors. This is a revision of an old poem. Thank you, as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk for these weekly prompts!
Poem Threshold The massive door has always been locked until now it stands slightly open like parted lips whispering yes. You imagine a turquoise sky, peach sorbet clouds— the opposite of this grey-shrouded world. You touch the weathered wood dotted with knotted eyes, wonder how far eternity is-- how wide? How deep? But there is the latch, undone, there is the handle, so, you inhale, exhale, and pull-- a sea-salt breath brushes your skin as you step over the sill. No more doors. No more locks. This is where your life begins.
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
johnchmura.bsky.social
#PoemsAbout #NoFuture
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#puppies #resist
I will post a special reading in the comments. I am on new puppy time this week, so it may take me a while to get to all of the poetry. Cheers!
AIN’T NO CLOCKS There ain’t no clocks in Puppy Town except biological, no artificial intelligence or sweetness, no animus for others’ regrets. Ours are no hours the hands of time cannot unwind, to pee, to poop, running off leash to lap the water bowl in the next blest nap. The are no puppies in Trump’s offal office, and that’s why everything he does there is stupid, why we have no future. Audrey, the Alaskan Klee Kai puppy on my front lawn.
November 28, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
sueimnw.bsky.social
For #PoemsAbout #NoFuture with thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk and all poets participating.
November 28, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social
For #PoemsAbout #NoFuture , , , and maybe breaking the hourglass?
Will return later to read others’. Thank you for reading! 🙏💫

@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#Oulens #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
#poetrycommunity #poetry
There’s NoFuture in This Bound Hourglass - C. Oulens That which wecamearoundto prepondering— the future— thatwhichpresseddownpoundingona couple of poor grains at the narrow neck piling up piteously at the bottom of this time-plagued hourglass Is nothing but the past flipped and posing as Future everforevernever to be a to be,,, ,,,oh! I forget! I’m trying to break free of shards that came t o b e.
November 28, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
philippabowe.bsky.social
This week's #PoemsAbout prompt #NoFuture took me straight into something that is a sad reality, here in France, I have been closely connected to. Thank you for the ongoing inspiration @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk Happy weekend poets! 💜
Black text on a white background, the words of a poem: Bounded Future They flock here, the boys, and sometimes girls but mostly boys, here to the land of liberté, fraternité, égalité, where the streets are paved with education, with jobs, with fat consumer goods, whose language they speak, were taught at school, colonising legacy. They leave their villages, towns, cities, these children of West Africa, they flee the places where their horizons have shrunk to nothing, they walk north trying to keep their shoes together with string, they cross the desert on the back of pick-ups trying not to look at the corpses littering the route, they cross the Mediterranean trying to choke down their terror because they never learned to swim. The ones who get here are children in the eyes of the law, but the eyes of the system are indifferent, wanting to dislodge them like grit from the Sahara. When the system is forced to finally open the gate it guards so closely, Cerberus system, it tells them, this is your future, bounded here and no further. Some of them are grateful, some are relieved, exhausted, and some are angry. But they all know there is no going back.
November 28, 2025 at 10:35 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Good morning! With Thanksgiving and houseguests, I wasn't going to participate in #PoemsAbout #NoFuture this week, but I felt the urge to write--so a quick one from me. I'll be back to read when I can. Thank you @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Darkest Nightmare, Brightest Dream The possible impossibility of no future, the universe’s flawed design, a bug in its brilliant breath, a break, a slow bleed-- or a flashbang— the syncopated rhythm of stars collapsed jazz-hands flutter and fall time folded, an accordion waiting to play every song and none here, not here a hummingbird, an azure sky, green vines, orange lichen, a soft-pink lotus flower opens, a laugh.
November 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
chaossectionpoetry.bsky.social
Quick update on the next TCS Poetry Project collection. We’re in the editing and layout phase, finalizing poem order and arranging for the cover art. Hoping to release it around Xmas/New Year’s. Thanks again to everyone who submitted. Really looking forward to getting this one out in the world!
November 11, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
merrildsmith.bsky.social
A short #poem for dVerse using the prompt word, "coax."
merrildsmith.org/2025/11/17/a...
A Glimmer in Gloom
A Winter Morning From Jan. 2023 A Glimmer in the Gloom There are still robinschirping in the trees, still scattered shapesof pink, red, yellow, an endless kaleidoscope,shadows and light unmoored,sc…
merrildsmith.org
November 17, 2025 at 8:47 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Roberta Writes - Reblog: In Touch With Nature – Wildebeeste, the Clown of the Veld roberta-writes.com/2025/11/26/r...
Roberta Writes – Reblog: In Touch With Nature – Wildebeeste, the Clown of the Veld
Last month I wrote about warthogs, one of the Ugly Five animals of Southern Africa. This month I have written about another Ugly Five animal, the wildebeest. I have written a poem using the format …
roberta-writes.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:52 AM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Trouble is Up Ahead - Friday Fictioneers
from @dalectables.bsky.social

adelectablelife.com/2025/11/26/t...
Trouble is Up Ahead – Friday Fictioneers
Good Wednesday afternoon, my loyal peeps!  It has taken me all day (well, I do have to at least appear as if I am working…) to come up with a proper sequel to last week’s story.  Of cou…
adelectablelife.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
robbiecheadle.bsky.social
purehaiku.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/s... @freyapickard.bsky.social @merrildsmith.bsky.social
Stop Press – November 2025
Two new books to tell you about this month! Dawn and Merril are both contributors here at Pure Haiku, and each of them have brought out a new publication this year. Dawn Pisturino brought out an in…
purehaiku.wordpress.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:41 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Stop Press - November 2025 purehaiku.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/s...
Stop Press – November 2025
Two new books to tell you about this month! Dawn and Merril are both contributors here at Pure Haiku, and each of them have brought out a new publication this year. Dawn Pisturino brought out an in…
purehaiku.wordpress.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:01 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Roberta Writes - Can you see me? And Sunday Stills roberta-writes.com/2025/11/25/r...
Roberta Writes – Can you see me? And Sunday Stills
This poem is for Sadie’s What do you see challenge. You can join in here: Can You See Me? Can you see me? Hidden behind the veil of continuous pretending the one that hides feelings of inadequacy a…
roberta-writes.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
thebrokenspine.co.uk
#PoemsAbout #NoFuture hits Friday. Write climate collapse, political burnout, joy lost in the algorithm. The ground beneath us is cracking. Draft now. Post Friday. Use Alt Text. Tag it or be lost. Sign up for more prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
wildfire scene, with bare trees silhouetted in front of roaring orange flames. The sky is blood-dark and hazy. The Broken Spine branding appears top left and right, and bottom right reads: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #NOFUTURE".
November 25, 2025 at 6:39 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
The Numbers Game #100 - 222 from @dalectables.bsky.social adelectablelife.com/2025/11/25/t...
The Numbers Game #100 – 222
Through Lisa over at Tao Talk, I learned about this Numbers Game hosted by Judy Dykstra-Brown at Life Lessons.  Judy supplies a number and we are to go into our Media file and choose photos that po…
adelectablelife.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
blackboughpoetry.bsky.social
Last year’s Christmas - Winter anthology featuring Matthew Hollis, a dazzling array of poetic talent, and artwork by Emma Bissonnet.

❄️ 🧊 🐻‍❄️ 🌟 🌊

www.blackboughpoetry.com/christmas-wi...
November 24, 2025 at 4:07 AM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Sunflower Tanka Updates tankatuesday.com/2025/11/24/s...
Sunflower Tanka Updates
Hello, beautiful poets! Robbie and I want to update you on the status of the 2025 Sunflower Tanka Anthology. It’s been a crazy summer and autumn for me. Between my husband’s surgeries a…
tankatuesday.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
It's Monday, and I'm musing! This is my weekly post of #Poetry, #Photos, and commentary about the past week.

merrildsmith.org/2025/11/24/o...
On the Mountaintop, Sliding Towards Dawn
Monday Morning Musings: On the Mountaintop, Sliding toward Dawn Heroes appear in every generationordinary people with stinky feet,and morning mouth, imperfect beingswho smoke, drink, are unfaithful…
merrildsmith.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Different Kinds of Art - Chocolate and Sweet Creations latinosenglishedition.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/_...
Different Kinds of Art – Chocolate and Sweet Creations
Hi everyone, it’s Robbie Cheadle here with you and this segment of art posts covers all sorts of different mediums of art, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. If you have art to share, pl…
latinosenglishedition.wordpress.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
November Book Reviews, and Portland's Warzone mythsofthemirror.com/2025/11/24/n...
November Book Reviews, and Portland’s Warzone
Before I dive into book reviews, I bring you a glimpse of Portland, Oregon’s “warzone” and the “violent carnage” outside the ICE facility. This is typical Portland. I …
mythsofthemirror.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:18 PM
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Roberta Writes - Reblog: “The Soldier and the Radium Girl Part 1: The Bloom of Youth, Chapter 1: Enlist in haste, repent at leisure (cont. 6)” by Roberta Eaton Cheadle roberta-writes.com/2025/11/23/r...
Roberta Writes – Reblog: “The Soldier and the Radium Girl Part 1: The Bloom of Youth, Chapter 1: Enlist in haste, repent at leisure (cont. 6)” by Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Jake Tanner 25 September 1917 The previous day, Jake’s platoon had boarded a train heading for an unknown US port. The first men of his battalion to be leaving for “somewhere over there.” Many were…
roberta-writes.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Last week was fire. This week? Ashes. #PoemsAbout #NoFuture starts Friday. Write ruin, hopelessness, rage. The end of days or just Tuesday. Don’t post early—fade into the feed. Tag #PoemsAbout. Use Alt Text. Sign up for Saturday prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
A burning treeline glows against a pitch-black night sky, flames and smoke rising in the background. Leafless trees stand silhouetted in front of the blaze. Top left: The Broken Spine logo. Top right: "@thebrokenspine.co.uk". Bottom right text: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #NOFUTURE".
November 23, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
rteller.bsky.social
Two things I learned
growing up next to
a military base
friends can come
from anywhere and
#dogtags are all
the same color

#PoemsAbout
@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
stacebot.bsky.social
This week's #PoemsAbout #DogTags got me thinking about what should the world know about you in an emergency?

Thank you to the host
@alanparrywriter.co.uk and
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
and to all of the other writers.

#poetry #poem #writing #PoetryCommunity #BlueSkyPoets
Dog Tag On hold with the repair shop I draw concentric circles on a lavender piece of junk mail. I write my own name so many times it starts to feel vulgar— unspeakable. There’s a flyer telling me to be all I can be-- dog tags dangling. The small weight of a name you can’t put down. To pass the time, I make a list of the three things the world would need to know to save me. But nothing comes. Only my own breathing down the dumb phone and the blank page waiting.
November 22, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
janes-studio.bsky.social
Poetry - art - creativity - creative process & inspiration... I loved this post by Resa McConaghy @resalis.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Merril D. Smith
rotherwrites.bsky.social
Not able to find your fellow poets' posts? Here is one way to set up tabs to follow favourite hashtags and poetry communities:

1/ swipe right until you have the 'Following' tab on the left at the top.
November 23, 2025 at 1:02 PM