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Best Poems Written by Patricia Smith

Below are the all-time best Patricia Smith poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Patricia Smith Poem

Love Is a Photograph

The bluest eyes I've ever seen
The pages of a magazine
I look at you in Holy White
Hollywood never gets it right
Since that eve I can't forget
The way I felt the day we met
The years go by, I wonder why
His Spirit called me from on High
It's been so long since that first song
I wonder where it all went wrong
Love waits for an eternity
Love is more than just a fantasy.

Details | Patricia Smith Poem

Silent Auction

Last summer
I gave to you
My tears
My blood turned blue.

Nervous perspiring
Neurons firing
My soul desiring

My body preparing for
Eternal warring

My heart flooding
With silent crying

The earth spinning
Gravity winning

The hem of my garment 
Tearing.

Lucifer swearing
No one caring.

What it this attracting?
History's  reenacting.

Eternal damnation
In constant deliberation.

The truth torn in two.
Does anybody know what to do?

Next summer day
I walk away

Hoping someday
If I give my heart away
I'll know next time who to give it to.

Details | Patricia Smith Poem

Love Is a Second Chance

I met many lovers
But not all of them were true
None of them were genuine
I thought none of them would do.

Some of them surprised me
They turned out different than I thought.
Some were great deceivers
Spending much time in mock.

Some were brazen liars
But had put on quite a show
Others great deniers 
Saying I had much too far to go.

Led my heart to disappointment
They couldn't pass the test.
They couldn't do the right thing
My hope was laid to rest.

But I had to keep on trying
To find a perfect match
I know how I will pitch this
To find a perfect catch.

I'll give everyone a second chance
And see just what they'll do
Plan A is gone, but the game's still on
Can anyone be true?

If the second inning of your life
Proves better than the first
If you right the wrong, rewrite the song
You may steal a second verse.

Since mischief is in every player
Then every play has failed
But what you do the second time around
May be just of the Lord.

Therefore I believe in second chances
Fixing lives and such
So don't give up on charity
And don't give up on love.

Details | Patricia Smith Poem

Gypsy Home

The clockwork just doesn't stop
You pass the hand but never end up on top

Ticking time is all I know
And now to somebody new I go
You wonder why I had to leave you so

A quick glance back- I'm doing fine
Pretty picture and a world I left behind

I couldn't follow you
I led you through
And let you taste from that same vine

I can't come home to three or four
The world begs me to make room for more
I wish you could slip through that parallel door.

So let's do coffee and catch a break
At a special time and date
I want to know that you're still here
And there's nothing real about my fear

Let's stop for now
And harness time
Clean that portion of my mind

Is it time of peace or time of war?
When the second hand stops we'll know for sure.

Details | Patricia Smith Poem

Faded

I don't remember you much my doll
But I still can feel the pain

Your face faded in the hands of time
But people want to know
Will I still bring up your name?

When it doesn't do much good to cry
When all they do is question why
This may haunt me till the day I die

And I can't afford this shame.

Someone turn back the hands of time
Pretend the world is a pretty design

We're not through with this pantomime
I want back everything that's mine.

Details | Patricia Smith Poem

Diamond Blues

One day you came  and you said hello
What happened next I do not know
Did a chapter fall out  to the street below?

You said, “I’ve already been there, babe-
I see the heart beat of the street”
You don’t think the train is coming for me.
What did you see on that tv?

You pick up the phone
Can you tell me which way did the riddler go?
Was there something he wanted me to know?

I never lied to you, I always told you straight
Everything I learned, I learned too late
Breathing my last when you decided my fate
Cameras and phones helping end my debate.

So you say the new girl’s really cool
Everything she's  learned in school
Now this house has new rules.
And I look at you with diamond blues.


It’s not your son’s heart that I muse
It’s a soldier's soul that I've accused.
My heart sinking when reading the news,
Now I look at you with diamond blues.