Lake Winds by Larry Smith

Lake Winds by Larry Smith

This is a gathering of autumn flowers, what has remained of the summer garden, the gathering before the scattering. Poems in the elder�s voice, that ripened voice which grows only out of a considered life, from a man who has spent the currency of his seventy some years in deepening that life through the practice of poetry. Lake Winds brings us the poetry of appreciation and gratitude. No busy ego racket here.

These poems come from a quieter level of mind that trusts that all of this is held within the secret direction/of everything. They acknowledge that truth, in Rumi�s words, that �Someone has filled the cup before us.� It is understood that we must prepare it for those who follow. Each of these poems is a filled cup awaiting a reader.

Consider the lessons of The Weed by the Garage. Here, the poet hesitates to pull a weed from the garden. Is it a weed or not/and how are we to decide? The subtle teachings of Zen whisper here as they do so often throughout. If one is to act compassionately: don�t tell me show me. We are cautioned to stop choosing between this and that, to include it all, weed and flower, in Big Mind. Then, the poet offers this extraordinary simple line, a sharpened blade to with which to sever every knot of delusion. �Without judgment, all are dear.�

Consider the beautifully spun �Walking a Field into Evening� teaches us the wisdom of letting go.

No more arguments, / Just heart sense, or talk about nothing.

Take long walks in the woods at dawn or dusk, / Breathe in the damp musty air, / Learn to listen before I die.

These poems speak to those who have learned to listen. - Maj Ragain

Larry Smith is a native Midwesterner who grew up in a working-class household in the Ohio River Valley's industrial heartland. He graduated from Muskingum College in Ohio in 1965 and married Ann Zaben, a local girl, at the age of 22. That summer, he worked in the steel mills before traveling to Euclid, Ohio, to teach high school and Ann to work as a nurse. Kent State University awarded him a master's degree (M.A.) and a bachelor's degree (B.A.). and Ph.D.), and was there during the protests and student shootings.

Brian, a son, was born in Huron in 1970, and Suzanne, a girl, in 1975. In 1980, he visited Sicily as a Fulbright professor in American Literature. He is the author of eight collections of poetry, a memoir, six collections of fiction, two literary biographies of authors Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Kenneth Patchen, and two collections of Chinese translations with co-translator Mei Hui Huang.

He taught writing and literature at Firelands College from 1970 to 2010 and served as director of the Firelands Writing Center, a cooperative of writers. Two of his film scripts on authors James Wright and Kenneth Patchen were produced into films with Tom Koba and aired on PBS. He has edited over 65 books and published over 200 titles of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction as the director of the literary publisher Bottom Dog Publishing, Inc. Smith has also contributed to the American Book Review, Parabola, Small Press Review, Choice, The San Francisco Review of Books, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohioana Quarterly, Heartlands, and the New York Journal of Books as a reviewer.

He's been invited to speak at writers' conferences in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. His poems has been broadcast on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac on American Public Television. The novel The Free Farm (2013), Each Moment All: Meditations as Poetry (2012), and Lake Winds: Poems (2014) are among his most recent works. At the Converging Pathways Meditation Center in Sandusky, Ohio, he enjoys playing guitar and meditating.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781933964942
ISBN 10	1933964944
Title	Lake Winds
Author	Larry Smith
Series	Harmony
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Bottom Dog Press
Year published	2014-05-01
Number of pages	218
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.