Three Poems by onecloud
Writing and painting as onecloud, the Toronto-based artist is the author of Fields of Memory (Secret Handshake Books, 2026), Sophia's Dream, and Poetry and Paintings by onecloud.
[it’s left up to the officer as to whether a citizen is expressing a right to protest or is exercising an interference to the operation .]
for Renee Good
on a day the sky is winter white and ice is underfoot. shots rang out killing Renee Nicole Good did he shoot her because she’s a woman? did he shoot her because she spoke out? did he shoot her because she’ a woman? a woman who dared to speak out.
just one
i am the river i am the ocean i am a snowflake i am the rain i am only water [from the Tao - one thing . . . is one ] we are able to put on personality as we would clothing . a calm being is satisfied to be one .
mom’s skin
i wear my mother's skin dark spots on my arms - they come and go. when they're small i like to call them strawberries. over time they get darker and spread out- then they fade. i remember the marks on my mom's arms also. she called them liver spots. now i wear her skin. it's thin - it tears easily - the spots grow and fade. near the end her skin was almost transparent . i wear my mom's skin i can see my veins in my breastplate. i have spots that come and go my skin tears if i bump furniture it suited her well and now - me also
BIO:
Marty Smith presents his poetry and paintings under the name onecloud, acknowledging the source voice that informs his work.
In 1983, he immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto.
From 1997 to 2010, he produced a number of limited-edition artist’s books that paired his painted poems with short verse. He self-published two chapbooks: Poetry and Paintings by onecloud (2013) and Sophia’s Dream (2018).
In 2026, his poetry chapbook Fields of Memory was published by Secret Handshake Books in Toronto.
