Praise for Self-Portrait with Cephalopod:

finalist for the Washington State Book Award

“Beautiful and timely work … Lush and obsessed and frantic and deathy.”

— francine j. harris

“Smith constantly surprises in her lyric leaps, weaving together scientific fact, keen observation, and a will for both physical and emotional survival. Despite how hopeless the headlines and environment can be, these poems continue to stun with their urgency and pathos.”

— Traci Brimhall

“A gutting poetry collection … Self-Portrait With Cephalopod ruminates on the contradictions of existing in a deteriorating world: making sense of the minutiae and drama of our daily lives while forever aware of the underlying existential anxiety that can't be fully ignored. It's about nature and loss, passion and hypocrisy, and the balance of pragmatism and faith.”

—Buzzfeed