Larry Smith
Larry Smith Poems
What we came for, and what arrives.
My grandson and I walk out the pier
all the way to the lighthouse,
...
We work for hours
at my son’s house
trimming grass, pulling weeds.
The thistle are taller
...
for Zoe Miranda and Alyssa Ann
As I gaze into the faces
of our new granddaughters
...
My wife agrees to babysit overnight
our new granddaughter—Zoe Miranda.
“They need some time alone, ” she says,
and I think aloud “And so do we.”
...
MILLTOWN RESURECTION
I park before the old hardware store
stare into the darkness.
...
LATE AFTERNOON AT THE NURSING HOME
We sit near the window whiling the hours
out of the day, till she tells us, “I want to
...
A Story of War
Larry Smith
My grandson and I visit the history museum.
...
Driving to a poetry read at night
through Ohio’s frosted fields
we talk our way there
past the dark prison in Mansfield
...
Fresh snow on the ground
beneath the bird feeders
tilting in the wind
soft light before dawn.
...
Larry Smith Biography
Larry Smith is a poet, biographer, memoirist, critic, editor, and professor emeritus of English at Bowling Green State University's Firelands College. He directs Bottom Dog Press and Bird Dog Publishing. Originally from the industrial Ohio River Valley, he and his wife Ann now live along the shores of Lake Erie. Recent title: The Kanshi Poems of Taigu Ryokan, translated by Smith and Mei Hui Liu Huang)
The Best Poem Of Larry Smith
Fishing The Lake
What we came for, and what arrives.
My grandson and I walk out the pier
all the way to the lighthouse,
carrying our fishing poles and gear
navigating the huge boulders
that dropp off into a deep lake.
If he falls in, I will follow
unable to live with his loss.
I bring a bucket of shiners
that we will put back into the lake
two by two, hoping against wind
to draw out a perch or bass,
perhaps a great walleye
to celebrate the day together
in the sun and wind.
The steady hoot of the lighthouse,
the waves washing up on the rocks,
the old guy who shows him
how to bring it in without a snag.
We calculate then cast out,
letting go the line, learning to
sit and wait again and again.
What we came for, and what arrives.
(for Adam)
Larry Smith Comments
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12/19/2025 9:29:34 PM # 1.0.0
