About the Author

Larry Smith, is a native of the industrial Ohio River Valley. A graduate of Mingo High School, Muskingum College and Kent State University, he taught at Bowling Green State University�s Firelands College (1970-2012). He and his wife Ann are the parents of three adults and eight grand children. He is the author of eight books of poetry, a book of memoirs, five books of fiction, and two literary biographies of authors Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Kenneth Patchen, and two books of translations from the Chinese. His photo history of his hometown Mingo Junction appeared recently in the Images of America Series. Two of his film scripts on authors James Wright and Kenneth Patchen have been made into films with Tom Koba. He is a co-founder of Converging Paths Meditation Center in Sandusky, Ohio. He and his wife live along the sandy shores of Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio. Brian Smith lives in Huron and works as a lawyer. He is the son of the author.

Reviews

"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." -Maj Ragain