POP SMOKE & PRAY

Frank Barry Smith now retired and living in Washington state served as a combat medic in the Vietnam war. This collection of poetry--written mostly while in Vietnam--chronicles first and foremost the friendships made and lost during war time. I have made friends and lost them / in ways more quickly than some / but less than others... Smith writes in THE MIDDLE ironically the book's final poem. POP SMOKE & PRAY is a book of memory a book of fear a book of observation a book of confusion and youth and a time that seemed to go at lightspeed while the long days still dragged into even longer nights; but most importantly POP SMOKE & PRAY is a book about love and its ability to remain and be found in the worst situations. Frank Barry Smith studied poetry under Philip Levine Robert Mezey and John Logan.