Contemporary poet, R. T. SMITH was born in Washington DC, raised in GA & NC, a teacher and author of books of poetry. A resident of Rockbridge Co. VA, Smith has been a resident at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig in Ireland. THE GIRLS OF O'CONNELL STREET The brash klaxon of a Guinness lorry shivers the air where the cashiers and salesgirls of Dublin steer swift as a regetta past the Liberators lofty effigy and the mossgreen bronze statue of Joyce. Sloop-elegant and subdued by formula fashion, except when the sun catches an earring blazing like a Viking blade, they glide and tack in twilled wool and linen, amazing for their deft navigation through frenzy, all trim rigging, the grace of necessity and obligatory smiles Ready to clock in, sort change and set the kettle, they lend the morning a symmetry almost puritan, routine wed to duty, all dreams tightly leashed. until one imp from County Kerry with gold in her nose and magenta dreadlocks appears from absolutely nowhere, narrow keel to the wind and rainbow shawls flying, her laughter swiftly unstitching any edict of taste or Election ever decreed by Calvin Klein or John Calvin.