Smith’s “Wade in the Water” is a one-stanza exploration of art, history, faith, and love. The poem’s title is an allusion to the African American spiritual (same title), which emphasizes faith in God during times of desperation. That spiritual is itself an allusion to the biblical story told in the book of Exodus, where the Israelites escaped from the Egyptians who had enslaved them by wading into the water of the Red Sea. But the spiritual also works on a deeper, more practical subtext, as the phrase “wade in the water” directed enslaved African American men, women, and children in how to escape from bondage by going into the water to elude the dogs used to hunt them.

Smith skillfully weaves these allusions in her poem to both create and collapse the distance between the present and the past, allowing the reader to “wade” into the many layers of history. Her dedication states “for the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters.” The Gullah Geechee lived for generations isolated from the mainland due to their geography on remote coastal islands. Until the late 20th century, this isolation has served to preserve their heritage, which retains much of the language, ritual, and worship of their African ancestors who had been enslaved.