Joseph “Joe” Smith was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the fifth of ten children. He studied business management at the University of Louisville where he graduated with high honors in 1978. Simultaneously, Joe worked in the plastics industry and continued working in the field for another 34 years in various managerial positions in different locations throughout the United States. The author has long had an interest in poetry, and during a protracted hospital stay in 1995, he began to write. His subject matter is widely varied and includes topics such as BiPolar symptoms, personal preference humor, disappointment, poetic efforts including types and techniques, tributes to a few professionals, dreams, and other miscellaneous topics. For many years, Joe has lived with bi-polar disorder – thus, the title of this compilation of his poems – Surviving Polarity, a follow up to his earlier work, Life Between the Poles, published in 2023.

Joe currently resides in a Senior Living Community in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has two adult children who live in the greater Chattanooga area.