The Carpet

The Carpet

Valerie A. Smith

At first the carpet is just fabric: remnants of wood fiber and vine stain, then notes of comfort wrapped in wool doves, hints of people and their tears of shame, heads down between the upholstered theater seats, reams of feet turning around and toward an infinite universe of joy.

I laid my back on this carpet. Thin. Industrious. Three layers from cement. Dust from dust. Felt the wind of others falling, hushed blanket of hovering, rose and washed with waters rising buoyant. Knelt in my own sea, before crowds of witnesses, pressed my soul into holy ground.

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Valerie A. Smith
Poet

Valerie’s first book of poems, Back to Alabama, is forthcoming from Sundress Publications. She has a PhD from Georgia State University and a MA from Kennesaw State University where she currently teaches English. Her poems appear in Radix, Aunt Chloe, Weber, Spectrum, Obsidian, Crosswinds, Dogwood, Solstice, Oyster River Pages, and Wayne Literary Review. Above all, she values spending quality time with her family.

Photography by Road Ahead Photography