Ken Smith, born in Rudston, East Yorkshire, England, in 1938, published his first book of poetry, The Pity, in 1967. He went on to publish more than 28 collections of poetry, including Terra; Wormwood, which was based on his experiences as a writer-in-residence at Wormwood Scrubs prison; The Heart, the Border; and Tender to the Queen of Spain. Mr. Smith, who worked in England and in the United States as a teacher, barman, magazine editor, potato picker, and a BBC announcer, was praised as a “truth-teller to a meretricious age, knifegrinder sharpening the tools of our precariously balanced public and private languages.” Mr. Smith died in 2003.