IS BETA PI
BLOG WITHOUT ANY REDEEMING SOCIAL OR ARTISTIC MERIT?:
YEA . . . . or
NAY? 
pictures, like this one of Wallace Stevens,
Robert Frost
Pablo Neruda
and
other time-wasters.
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Well, it has been an interesting year, and I have enjoyed being with you through it all. We lost our brother J. Neal who died accidentally in a motorcycle accident, and we were grateful Tison Keel just happened to be in Thailand at the time. I hope 2016 brings you blessings. Auld Lange Syne. Happy New Year, my dear friends!
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Well, it has been an interesting year, and I have enjoyed being with you through it all. We lost our brother J. Neal who died accidentally in a motorcycle accident, and we were grateful Tison Keel just happened to be in Thailand at the time. I hope 2016 brings you blessings. Auld Lange Syne. Happy New Year, my dear friends!
Some of
you may recall a Feature we had a few years back, Poetry Corner. It’s back!
It’s
back because I have exciting personal news! My book of poetry is published!
It is called “Water, Wind, Spirit, Stone, Poems by Lawrence A. Simons”
It is published by Eveready Press, 1817 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203. www.eveready-usa.com . It is available in paperback and e-book. Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Water-Spirit-Stone-Lawrence-Simons/dp/0989716155/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419957595&sr=1-1&keywords=water%2C+wind%2C+spirit%2C+stone
Here is the story.
I was
in High School when I first discovered that I love to write. I wrote a weekly rag while at Columbia
Military Academy. That's a picture of me and my Dad.
I got “bitten” by
poetry there. I had a Poetry Professor who was inspiring, and innovative in his
teaching techniques.
I was genuinely inspired
by him, by the poetry, and particularly by Walt Whitman’s poetry. I had what you might call a “light bulb” experience,
a creative awakening, which was not unlike that depicted in “Dead Poet’s
Society” – just without the tragedy.
So, in
High School, we dream big, yes? I loved
poetry, and music, so I went to Vanderbilt University, with the aim of being a
great poet and songwriter.
And there I
studied Poetry, and also did intensive studies in girls, and guitars.
At
Vanderbilt, Poetry Writing was my favorite class. I had this moment, and I will never forget it. The Course was taught by Vanderbilt’s “Resident Poet”
- he was a mysterious fellow, very private.
At the end of the term he invited the entire class (about a dozen
aspiring young poets) to his apartment for a social and poetry reading. And, similar to class requirements, we were each
to bring a new poem to the social.
Keep in
mind, in his class, writing a poem, then reciting it was like having a tooth
extracted. He taught using the critical
method. You recite your poem, then each
of your classmates takes a turn “critiquing” it. By hearing all of your classmates critique
your poem, you learn the art of “self-criticism.” And it really works. You learn that you may write an entire page,
but later when you self-critique it, there often is only one good line out of
50. That, we were taught, is how poets refine their poems.
So,
back to the social. I showed up with my
poem, nervous, as usual. When my turn
came, I read my poem, and the Poet paused and said “there is something archetypal”
about my imagery and my poem. I knew
from his tone it was a compliment, but he had never used that word in
class. I was really flustered, because –
being me, I thought my poem was probably shit – and I was nervous at being
singled out and complimented. Add to
that, I didn’t know what the frickin’ word meant (gimme a break, I was all of 20). The other kids in the class were silent, you
could hear a pin drop. Not being shy, I
asked him “What does archetypal” mean?”
He smiled and said “Something so original as to be first of its
kind.” WOW! You could say my bell was rung! My "moment" lasted for weeks.
After that
encouragement, I was determined to get published! I managed to get that poem published in
Versus, the Vanderbilt Student Magazine.
I made a submission, and I remember getting a call from the Versus
student publisher, a somewhat arrogant
fellow. He said “Congratulations, we’ve
decided to publish your poem . . . but there is an edit I’d like to make, why
don’t you come over and we’ll talk.”
So, I
found myself face to face with Mr. A. Sniff Sniffer. He wanted to delete a line. I paused, looked at the line, thought about it, and said "no, that line is essential to the
character of my poem, there was a reason it was written" (a mystical reason, but
I didn’t say that). He didn't appear convinced, so I let out all the stops, told him that I had been given an “A” for the poem by our Resident Poet, in Poetry Writing Class. And further, that the Poet told me “there is something archetypal” about my style and my poem.
I was feeling pretty self-assured, so I said “If you doubt that, call him up and ask him. I am not agreeing to your edit. If you choose not to publish my poem over this edit, it’s your call.” He said, rather smugly, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
He never called, but in the next edition of Versus, my poem appeared, in full, no edits. Needless to say, I was on “Cloud Nine.” In hind-sight, I owe the snooty publisher my thanks. I am grateful he was there to push back against my ego. The lesson for me was simple, always fight for what I believe in.
I was feeling pretty self-assured, so I said “If you doubt that, call him up and ask him. I am not agreeing to your edit. If you choose not to publish my poem over this edit, it’s your call.” He said, rather smugly, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
He never called, but in the next edition of Versus, my poem appeared, in full, no edits. Needless to say, I was on “Cloud Nine.” In hind-sight, I owe the snooty publisher my thanks. I am grateful he was there to push back against my ego. The lesson for me was simple, always fight for what I believe in.
Well, long story short, after a stint in the Army, I spent several years after college in Nashville working carpentry by day, writing songs at night. I had some great experiences co-writing and recording songs, but never figured out how to make money at song writing, except for a $200 publishing advance I got on one of my songs. And when my son Andrew was born, I knew I had to get a real career, so I gave up on songwriting, and I became a lawyer. So now it is lawyer by day, poet by night.
In the
90’s, I was very active on the Nashville Poetry Scene, doing open mic readings
and “performance poetry” under the name “Larry & Larry.” I didn’t make that up, it was a nick name I
earned. I had a conga player also named
Larry, and we both played drums to accompany my poetry reading performances,
some folks liked it, and we were dubbed “Larry & Larry.” Two of my
poems were published in an Anthology commemorating Windows on the Cumberland,
the heart of the open mic scene. I made a few poetry videos with Beatlick
poet Joe Speer, and he featured me on his TV show “Speer Presents.” I was
invited to read my poetry at the Summer Lights Festival, and won the Poetry
Slam Event there.
And now, I finished my book of poems. As you might imagine, I am telling everyone,
and I guess you can tell by this Blog entry how very excited I am about
it. I hope you will check it out.
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KEEPING TABS:
Claude Cody had a really good idea, to put a “memorial tab section” in the blog to help guys easily find the Memorials of departed brothers in the Archives, to make it easier to “keep tabs” on what other brothers have posted. We use a free blog service, which is very low tech, no way to just push a button, but I loved Claude’s idea, and his interest in helping guys. My solution is to put a permanent section here at the end, with user friendly references. You do remember the “Card File” at the Heard Library, don’t you?
If you
have never explored the “Archives” in this Blog – it is toward the top of the
latest “blog issue”, on the right.
You access it by clicking on the Month and Year, and it will drop down with choices.
For example, if you click on December, 2006, it will drop down and list all issues that were published that month. If you want Issue No. 68, you click on that, and it takes you to that issue. You can then post a comment to that issue. So, it’s great, because if you didn’t comment then, it’s never too late to post a comment, right? Good luck, PIONEERS! Just take the reference and look it up in “Archives.”
You access it by clicking on the Month and Year, and it will drop down with choices.
For example, if you click on December, 2006, it will drop down and list all issues that were published that month. If you want Issue No. 68, you click on that, and it takes you to that issue. You can then post a comment to that issue. So, it’s great, because if you didn’t comment then, it’s never too late to post a comment, right? Good luck, PIONEERS! Just take the reference and look it up in “Archives.”
DAVID HOWE, died 11/30/2006.
Beta Pi
Blog, Vol.2006, No.68, Archive: December, 2006. Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2007, No.30, Archive: May, 2007
MILES WALSH, died 07/2013.
Beta Pi
Blog, Vol.2013, No.05, Comments Section (over 50 comments), Archive: Aug.2013
J. NEAL CRENSHAW, died 11/12/2014.
Beta Pi
Blog, Vol.2014, No.08, Archive: Nov. 2014Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2014, No.10, Archive: Dec. 2014
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VTL,
Larry Simons
Beta
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