The Pears: Poems

by Larry Smith

Overview

I don t wish to give too much away, this book is your ticket. It s your turn now to ride this glass-bottom boat across a new lake. You will hear music and see the wind smooth the waves as underwater blurs become crystal clear. One delight after another, Larry Smith has made these poems out of dreams and diners with memories on the menu. ~Allen Frost, author of Pinocchio in America

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947504141
Publisher:	Bottom Dog Press
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Edition description:	1
Pages:	66
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Larry Smith is a native of the industrial Ohio River Valley and has published 6 books of fiction and 8 books of poetry as well as literary biographies of Kenneth Patchen and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He also wrote and produced two documentary films on James Wright and Kenneth Patchen. As editor-publisher of Bottom Dog Press in Ohio he has guided over 210 books through publication since its inception in 1985. A retired professor of humanities from Bowling Green State University at Firelands College, Smith and his wife Ann live along the shores of Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio and are active grandparents and founders of the Converging Paths Mediation Center there.

Read an Excerpt

The Writing



Don t go running off to

cut down a tree

then bring it into the house

and load it with gaudy decorations.



Dig a small one from the earth

and drag it along the ground,

then pot and place it on the porch

leaves and bugs and all

where the rain and snow can feed it.

Editorial Reviews

"I don t wish to give too much away, this book is your ticket. It s your turn now to ride this glass-bottom boat across a new lake. You will hear music and see the wind smooth the waves as underwater blurs become crystal clear. One delight after another, Larry Smith has made these poems out of dreams and diners with memories on the menu," ~Allen Frost, author of Pinocchio in America

"Starkly different from Smith s previous chapbooks, The Pears Poems, travel a diverse poetic path. While keeping his endearing trademarks, men of the earth and their most human instincts, Smith has added another dimension: magic: that of life which is often felt but cannot be seen or dissected.

"A tour de force, The Pears Poem, from the sparse The Writing: through the castanets and dark caves of The Roma: the imaginative Elvis Resurrection: the surety of Dandelion Resurrection, and the quiet whispers of The Kiss, and so many more. A rarity among chapbooks: you won t be able to put down The Pears Poems, until every last poem is read. I couldn t.." -Susan Dale



"This new book shows someone who is not afraid to change, even after many books. Along with his normal Zen sparks, there s a joyful surrealism here. Even the most black and white, photographic poems don t take themselves too seriously and open us up.

Smith s people spend a lot of time waiting. They wait for money, for night, or for the dark laughter of an epiphany to hit as a hard as a busload of bibles. These poems exist right outside of town in a peddler s encampment where fairy tales and bad luck mingle with white bread and pennies. These are magical riddles made up of the real and the nearly so. Feast on them and dance". ~Mike James

"I ve been reading Larry Smith s work for over 20 years. That s long enough to make his work seem like it s always been there, and maybe that s because the people Larry writes about are ones I recognize: mill workers and farmers, waitresses and librarians. He writes about family and everyday concerns. Sometimes those are scrambled eggs. Sometimes they are snow birds. He is a very tactile poet.

"This new book shows someone who is not afraid to change, even after many books. Along with his normal Zen sparks, there s a joyful surrealism here. Even the most black and white, photographic poems don t take themselves too seriously and open us up.↵

"Smith s people spend a lot of time waiting. They wait for money, for night, or for the dark laughter of an epiphany to hit as a hard as a busload of bibles. These poems exist right outside of town in a peddler s encampment where fairy tales and bad luck mingle with white bread and pennies. These are magical riddles made up of the real and the nearly so. Feast on them and dance." ~Mike James

From the Publisher