by Kile Smith | Feb 1, 2024 | Broad Street Review, Photography
First published in the Broad Street Review 27 Nov 2023, and reprinted here by permission. It’s been a good year for bedstraw. Its narrow leaves radiate out in evenly spaced fans along its vine; delicate white flowers pop out at the end: it’s a sparkler of a weed. It...
by Kile Smith | Nov 1, 2022 | Broad Street Review
[First published in the Broad Street Review 1 Nov 2022 as “One man, his van, and 18 hours: Journey to an orphanage in Kyiv” and reprinted here by permission.] The Russians, invading Ukraine at the end of February, pounced on the capital city of Kyiv. By...
by Kile Smith | Jul 19, 2022 | Broad Street Review, Photography
A photo of a common bird gives flight to thoughts on technology and gratitude. [First published in the Broad Street Review 19 Jul 2022 as “A walk in the woods, with the wrens, makes me wonder: if things were simpler, when?” and reprinted here by...
by Kile Smith | Dec 23, 2020 | Broad Street Review, Classical music, Vocal music
[First published in Broad Street Review 21 Dec 2020 and reprinted here by permission.] About the best advice for composers I’ve heard comes from Mac Sledge, Robert Duvall’s washed-up country singer who finds redemption in 1983’s Tender Mercies. When word gets out he’s...
by Kile Smith | Oct 20, 2020 | Broad Street Review, Pop Music
[First published in the Broad Street Review 19 Oct 2020 and reprinted here by permission.] Since I set a lot of words to a lot of music, I’m interested in how others do it, others including composers of the past, of the present—and pop songwriters. The music of my...
by Kile Smith | Apr 17, 2020 | Broad Street Review
[First published in the Broad Street Review, 14 April 2020. Reprinted by permission.] When we began staying home in 2020 to combat the pandemic, the Metropolitan Opera began offering free Nightly Met Opera Streams from their popular Live in HD series. It was the seven...
