SMOKE IN COLD WEATHER, the second full-length collection from Robert Lavett Smith, explores one man's struggle with grief and loneliness, and celebrates, despite it all, moments of surprising grace and transcendence. Chronicling the loss of a spouse, and the search for renewed meaning in the aftermath of death, the book is comprised of a "mosaic" of sonnets touching on many subjects and concerns, and evokes a potpourri of people, places, and times. By turns devastating and mordantly funny, it is above all a record of a lifelong love affair with language, and of the redeeming power of poetry.