Smile, Child

Smile, Child is a brief portrait of growing up in a broken home and society where abuse is normalized. Each poem illustrates a different aspect of what it means to limp through life carrying generational trauma and suffering major losses while navigating a sick nation and uncertain future. The confusion, grief, and injustice are palpable with each stanza revealing more about the author’s inner world.

The title came to be fifteen years ago, long before any of the poems were ever written, when the author worked as a “sandwich artist.” A gruff man would come in for lunch almost daily and fill his fifty-two ounce Big Gulp at the soda fountain. The week following the suicide of the author’s sister, the man looked at her sullen enthusiasm behind the sandwich counter as he sipped his Dr. Pepper and said, “Smile, child. It gets worse.”