Snapshots from New City

Jamie Smith

(Korea)

[Azaleas] 

Often fuchsia or plumb, sometimes white struck through by shadow. 

아름다운 (Aleumdaun), I fumble. Yes, beautiful, Eun Jung nods slowly. 

During the war, she tells me, we ate them. Not decorations then. 

 

[곤충 정원 (gonchung) (jeongwon)]

The Insect Garden: A bride-to-be-poses with her vail. wind-spun 

around her spandex bodysuit. Out of sight the salmon pink 

bird-eating tarantula flicks her urticating hairs. 

 

[고라니 (Gorani)] 

A fanged deer screams into the night, sending raccoon dogs scuttling. 

Dear friend, I miss you. Vampire deer are gathering by the river 

and if you were here with me, beneath this red moon, I’d feel at home.  

 

[월미도 (Wolmido) The Tail of the Moon]

Beneath razor wire, roses break beneath their own weight. 

Ninety-three napalm bombs, Wiki says. The plaque clarifies: ninety-five

Now: Empty hotels, theme park, replanted forest, Emigration Museum.

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Jamie Smith

is a

Guest Contributor for Panorama.

Jamie L. Smith is the author of the poetry collection "The Flightless Years", and "Trojan Horses: Voices from the Opioid Crisis", winner of the 2025 Unleash Press Book Prize. Her chapbook "Mythology Lessons" was winner of Tusculum Review's 2020 Nonfiction Prize and is listed as notable in Best American Essays 2021. Her poetry, nonfiction, and hybrid works appear in publications including Southern Humanities Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Best New Poets, The Good Life Review and elsewhere. Please visit jlsmithwriter.com for more information.

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