In THREE MILES FROM LUCKEY, David Shevin displays a hard-earned wonder at the world. Full of wry humor and surprise, these poems make us laugh where it hurts. Shevin revels in the odd ironies and juxtapositions and out-and-out absurdities of this screwed-up world. He merges the personal and political with a jazzy twinkle in his eye. We need his wise, compassionate voice-Jim Daniels. "The poems glitter with gorgeous words for plants and animals, with Hebrew phrases, with names of Biblical prophets, with Hispanic names of people and places, and with the vernacular of rural Ohio. Like th poetry of William Blake, Shevin's narrative abhors the devastation wreaked by post-industrial capitalism. It does so less through depiction of injustice than through the recounting of small pieces of luck" -Edwina Pendarvis.
In The Thick of Thin, Larry Smith writes of a life full of personal challenges, a life full of consistent engagement with the larger world, and a life full of commitment to making it a better place--as a husband, father, writer, editor. Smith has worn a lot of hats, and he's worn them well. His story here has the emotional resonance of all of his writing. Much of his life's work has been focused on making the point that working-class lives like his in communities like his are important to our culture and history, and he makes that point more strongly than ever in telling of his own in this memoir. --Jim Daniels, author of Street Caligraphy
First Review of The Thick of Thin: Memoirs
" A native of the industrial Ohio River valley, Smith grew up in a mill town where classmates were children of steel workers - mostly of immigrant and black families. Smith's father shared the goal of many in the valley to send their children to college and escape the mills to more fully serve the community. Thus, was birthed the new working-class of which Smith proudly writes.
...The author has turned out a well-written memoir that resonates with those who reached adulthood in the 1960s and 70s and became the working class. This book warms the reader like a quilt of memory scraps, recorded in words rather than stitches."
Larry Smith's strikingly lucid and complete memoir has a deep and strong focus upon bringing forward the experience of Midwest Ohioan milltown working-class life. The range and volume of Smith's work, from poetry to fiction to memoir--and including his tremendous contributions through his Bottom Dog Press--is simply stunning. His writing moves with great energy, directness, honesty, clarity, and empathy--which, for Smith, "opens creativity." This empathy touches upon family, townspeople and others, but also upon nature, in the sense of experiencing the oneness of self and place. This 'meditation' aspect of his writing, as a heightened awareness of the present moment, is simply inspiring: it is a gift to the reader. As he reflects, " . . . the writing of my life has always been a reaching to others."
--Ingrid Swanberg, Editor of Abraxas and Director of Ghost Pony Press
'The Company of Widows, ' [included in Milldust and Roses] one of the strongest pieces, describes a visit 'home' to his mother. It is homage to his parents, to the legacy of work 'as fabric of life, ' and to working-class struggle that 'toughens you or it breaks your heart.'" -Janet Zandy
"Such a sweet, kind, modest, touching, an unassuming book...It is this simple pride in being 'common' that most touches me....I envy Smith this rooted, honest, and unabashedly loving portrait of his native land." -David Budbill
"This beautiful memoir of that part of the steel-hearted Midwest, by a writer who understands the poetry and poverty of the working-class poor, is something to be put in the hands of anyone unfamiliar with the history of steel towns, America's blue collar culture, and how it shaped lives and souls." -Norbert Blei
This is a remarkable memoir, two memoirs really. One chronicles Larry Smith's odyssey from son of a mill town worker to accomplished teacher, writer, publisher. We see a young man take his first uncertain steps from a way of life that had defined his family for generations. As he and wife Ann move from their beloved Ohio Valley, we also see the values of hard work, honesty to self, acceptance of others, and others instilled from his parents impelling his life forward from college graduate to high school teacher to college professor. Throughout, love of family remains at the center of his life.
The other memoir is his creative odyssey. Shared the evolution of his creative self as reflected in selections from his poetry, fiction, and biography. It brings him-and us-to a precipice of understanding that is deep and profound, a holistic self grounded in the world of nature and others. --Kurt Landefeld, author of Jack's Memoir
