"Self Portrait, 1991. A Soldier in Germany"

By Matt Smythe

My seasons were different.
Weather back home was a fleeting interest
as I pointed just below Lake Ontario on the TV-
a weatherman motioning open-handed
to the low-pressure system heading south over the Finger Lakes.
I lit a cigarette,
blew a cloud at the screen.

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Matt Smythe from the Finger Lakes region of western New York. An Army veteran and lifelong outdoorsman, Matt suffers from an inability to sit still. If he’s not in the woods, or on the water, he’s scheming ways to get there. His work has appeared in Free Range American, Gray’s Sporting Journal, the Fly Fish Journal, The Drake, Southern Culture on the Fly, Revive, Midcurrent, TROUT Magazine, and a handful of other non-outdoors-related magazines and literary journals. He recently published a book of poetry with Dead Reckoning Collective titled Revision of a Man.

Follow Matt’s blog, Glorious Mayhem here.

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What’s happening at VetRep…

Listen to our latest episode with Kimberly Evans on the Savage Wonder Podcast, where we interview incredibly talented musicians, artists, writers, and theater professionals, who also happen to be veterans.

If you can’t wait to get back in the parlor with us, go ahead and reserve your seats for September, for Chris Soucy’s “The Absurdity of it All”. Chris Soucy is a VetRep resident artist and Army Veteran. He is a co-founder of Odd Lot Improv and the Savannah Shakes Theater Company, and has worked as an actor, puppeteer, writer, director, and filmmaker, with over 30 years of experience in the theater industry.