Tracy K. Smith

Tracy K. Smith (1972- ) was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on April 16, 1972, and raised in Fairfield, California. She studied at Harvard University, where she joined the Dark Room Collective, a reading series for writers of color, created by Sharan Strange in 1988. She went on to receive her MFA from Columbia University. She was Poet Laureate of the United States, 2017–2019.

“US & CO.” 

We are here for what amounts to a few hours,

a day at most.

We feel around making sense of the terrain,

our own new limbs,

Bumping up against a herd of bodies

until one becomes home.

Moments sweep past. The grass bends

then learns again to stand.

— Tracy K. Smith