American Studies
Jordan Smith
Job Title
Edward Everett Hale Jr., Professor of English Emeritus
Pronouns
He/him/his
Research interests
Creative Writing, Contemporary American Poetry, American Literature.
Publications
Recent Poetry
"In the Pines" and "Threadbare" in Live Encounters, February, 2026.
"Tattoo" in Vox Populi, Feb. 7, 2026.
"Parts of the Same Project" inVox Populi, September 28, 2025.
"No Expectations" and "The Great Uncertainty," in Live Encounters, September 2025.
"The Amateur of Consciousness" and "Trillium" in Cultural Daily, Jan. 31, 2025
"After Wei Yung-wu," in Nine Mile Magazine, November 2024.
Two groups of three poems in Live Encounters, "Another Old Movie," (Sept 2024) and "The Ghost in the Mix Tape," Nov-Dec 2024.
“Drafts” and “Drone,” in Live Encounters, December 2022.
"Good Morning" and "Wrong Question" Air/Light, Summer 2021.
"Early Music, Grandeur, Traverso, Northern Lights, and Across the Street from the Miro Foundation," in Live Encounters, January 2020.
Recent Prose
Mini-Essay, "Can anyone become a poet?" in Live Encounters, July 2026.
Essay, "Liberty," in Live Encounters, February 2026.
Guest editorial essay, "Listening" in Live Encounters, November-December 2025.
Essay, "These Days" in Vox Populi, August 8, 2025.
An essay on reading and friendship, "Across the Mountains and Waters," and a companion poem, "The World's Worst Taoist," in Live Encounters, January 2025.
An essay about old-time music, depression, Bob Dylan, and history and memory, "Sugar in the Gourd," in Air/Light, Summer 2024.
An essay about music, family, mental illness, memory, and John Clare, "My Grandmother's Mandolin," in Live Encounters, February 2022.
A guest editorial, "Interiors," in Live Encounters, January 2020.
A short story, "The President's Garden," in The Write Launch, January 2020.
Recent Other
Foreword to David Rigsbee, The Sign of the Mermaid, a digital collection of elegies for Rigsbee's brother. (Rigsbee was Smith's undergraduate workshop teacher at Hamilton College.)
“Jordan Smith--Mystic in a Red Flannel Shirt,” an overview of his work by poet Lynn Strongin, appeared In Live Encounters, October 2022.
“Slaughterama,” Smith’s discussion of work by poet and essayist, Anna Journey, appeared in Nine Mile, Fall 2022.
Air/Light interview podcast with alumna Diane Mehta and Jordan Smith
Poetry Collections:
Chapbook, Cold Night/Long Dog (Ambidextrous Bloodhound Press), 2022.
Little Black Train, (Three Mile Harbor Press), 2020. Won the 2019 Three Mile Harbor Press Poetry Prize.
Clare’s Empire (Hydroelectric Press)
The Light in the Film (University of Tampa Press)
The Names of Things Are Leaving (University of Tampa Press)
An Apology for Loving the Old Hymns (Princeton University Press)
Lucky Seven (Wesleyan University Press)
The Household of Continuance (Copper Beech Press)
The Flute Is Zero (Right Hand Pointing)
For Appearances (University of Tampa Press) won the Tampa Review Prize in Poetry
Earlier publication venues:
Poems in Poetry, The Paris Review, and Salmagundi.
Stories in American Short Fiction and Big Fiction.
Memoir in Numero Cinq.
Reviews in The Antioch Review, The Old Time Herald, The New Hibernia Review.
Additional media
Exhibitions
"Hat & Key", a series of broadsides with Walter Hatke, was featured in Union Alumni Magazine; two poems for Walt's show "What Came Home" appeared in The Kelly Adirondack Center exhibit. A special hand-stitched and bound edition of works from the “Hat & Key” and “What Came Home” collaborations was printed by fourColor Inc. of Niantic, Conn as Common Spirits, 2021.
Distinctions
The collection Little Black Train won the 3 Mile Harbor Press Poetry Prize and Book Award.
The chapbook Three Grange Halls was co-winner of the Swan Scythe Press award.
Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Academic credentials
B.A., Empire State College; M.A., Johns Hopkins University; M.F.A., The University of Iowa
Karp Hall 115
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Fax:
(518) 388-6462