Larry Levy

Larry Levy Poems

Larry Levy Biography

Larry Levy’s latest collection of new poems, " What Outlives Us" (Atmosphere Press) , came out in 2018. In his review, poet John Palen writes " Larry Levy broadens his considerable range in this new book…This is the book of a life-long writer continuing to push into new territory. It’s well worth following him there." In January 2017, Atmosphere Press published " All the Dead are Holy, " a collection of over fifty newer poems. About the book, John Jeffire, poet and novelist, wrote, " In this collection, not only are all the dead holy, but all the living as well…The message is clear and powerful: 'You must remember.' " An earlier book, " I Would Stay Forever If I Could and New Poems, " is in a second expanded printing from Mayapple Press. He has also published " Three Things That Have Nothing to Do With Teaching" (Delta Press) , a collection of essays. Retired from teaching at every level from pre-school to graduate school, Larry and his wife Cheryl live in Midland, Michigan where they direct plays and conduct workshops on acting and writing for the Midland Center for the Arts.)

The Best Poem Of Larry Levy

The Best And The Brightest

They may have been raised with Sundays,
filed into candle-lit pews, chanting entreaties
to the Divine, confessing transgressions,
immersing in ablutions, receiving absolutions;

and they may have been fixed for years
behind secular desks, reciting the great odes,
parsing ancient lines, having their ears
and thoughts boxed, copying codes

of citizenship, speaking only when called
upon. Such vessels, empty of mind
and soul, were poured into, filled
with what it means to be refined,

to now presume to know beyond doubt,
in the deep core, in the patriot heart,
what is best and true, having never been there
(especially if one has never been there!)—

especially if reasoning means to swear
to God knows who is fit, who is pure,
who is not my neighbor, and who remains,
and who will be herded into trains.

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