Rick Smith's two previous books dealt with the diminutive Wren...wren as metaphor, wren as symbol for our own frailties and neuroses. Wren was a delicate bird that must be handled with care. But now, it's a new game and Smith comes out swinging! The gloves are off and he takes on the human condition in a "no-holds-barred" re-match that has been years in the making. In "Whispering in a Mad Dog's Ear", Smith shows that he isn't just a one trick pony. He writes about things that are near and dear, about harmonica players and having the blues, about drug addiction, about old lovers and adventures, about psych wards, about madness and redemption, about love and loss; in short, he writes eloquently about the wonders and horrors of life. Take for example, the poem entitled SWANS: Sure, there are swans, silver swans, coupling swans, swans so ominous they remind us of something pre-natal when we were tiny and subject to the counter-clockwise thrill of conception and likewise to the troubling possibilities of gravity. Swans on Silver Lake near where a body was found floating, a hollow swan on our bureau, once filled with cuff links, rings and small change. A pond near the house on the cape where one swan bedazzles herself in early Spring three years running. We watch from distance, counting the times reflection has failed us. There is a haunting beauty here, a suggestibility that doesn't need to go into detail because we already know instinctively what's going on. Such is the poetry of Rick Smith.
About the Author: Rick Smith grew up on the lower East Side of NYC before the family moved to Bucks County, Pa. There was also a year or so in Paris. The writing began in high school, poems inspired by William Blake and Carl Sandburg. His English teacher at Solebury School was Michael Casey who would include Yeats, William Burroughs and rock writers Leiber and Stoller in the same lesson plan. Smith went on to study with Anthony Hecht at Bard College where Hart Crane's "The Bridge" made a big impact. At the same time, music began to take an important role. With no formal training (one lesson from Chevy Chase, one from James Cotton), Smith learned blues harmonica and went to work on the streets of Greenwich Village, playing for tips or meals, rubbing shoulders with youngsters like Cass Elliott, Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Steve Stills and the guys in The Lovin' Spoonful. Dylan actually had to borrow Smith's harmonica for an impromptu set at Bard one night. He delivered a car to California in 1965 and founded The City Lights late that year. He starved on the Sunset strip, selling candy door to door by day, playing for a piece of the door or for free at clubs like the Sea Witch, The Galaxy, Bido Lito's and The Whiskey. The band actually opened for Smokey Robinson and The Miracles at the Cheetah in Venice Beach, in 1967. In the mid 1970's, Smith joined Dan Ilves to co-edit the literary journal Stonecloud. His interview with Tom Waits in issue #7 made it a sought after collector's item. In 1976, he played on the soundtrack of the Oscar nominated film, "Days of Heaven". In 1981, he and collaborator John Lyon wrote and recorded "Hand To Mouth", a well-reviewed LP of originals which got substantial air-play. He went on to write and record with Mindless, Go Figure, The Hangan Brothers and The Mescal Sheiks. Smith continues to perform, write and record with The Sheiks and with Music Formula; new releases from both bands are in the works. Poems have appeared widely in journals like New Letters, The Wormwood Review, South Bay Magazine, The Lummox Journal, Rattle and Spillway... A string of day jobs evolved, unpredictably, to a late career as a clinical psychologist. He spent several years on the internationally acclaimed neurological service at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center. He is now in private practice in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca. where he lives with his wife and son.