Sensual Music

William Jay Smith --> reviewed by Jeffrey Meyers -->

Few poets go on writing well into old age, but the Louisiana-born William Jay Smith is one of them. Still going strong, he celebrated his ninetieth birthday last year with two impressive new books. He was a Rhodes Scholar and served as a Democratic representative in the Vermont legislature, was poet laureate of the U.S. and poet-in-evidence at Columbia and Williams. His poetry, marked by great technical skill, is witty and satiric, poignant and humane. A complete man of letters, he’s also published memoirs, children’s stories, literary essays, an account of the amusing Spectra Hoax, and...