Poets to See at AWP: Larry Eby

I met Larry Eby as a result of his manuscript, Flight of August, being selected by Joan Houlihan for the 2013 Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press. I had the good fortune of being the lead editor on the project of bringing the book to publication, along with the help of many other colleagues. In the process, I found Larry to be a poet with a voice and sensibility beyond his years. Since then, he has gone on to graduate from California State University, San Bernardino, with an MFA, and to be hired as an instructor at multiple Inland Empire community colleges in southern California, as well as write and publish a second full-length book, Machinist in the Snow (ELJ Publications, 2015).

Here is a sample poem from his recently-released book:

32. Machinist in the Snow

If I lift the ocean in an invisible cup, the root of water
would make a new home in the brain of oxygen. A barren

land emerges. Elephant tusks, radiator, the milk of all mammals
spoiled in jars. You emerge                          follow me

and where have I lost
the scent of the past. A television                  it's time

scuttles the cracked, evaporated floor. Who
are you? The shadows                                      you

have followed me till now then retreat         always you
into the propellers of time. No light from the sun,

it returns home to the underside of the earth. A music
bubbles like soap                                          have heard me

into my ears, a tambourine, snare. You with your
speaker of what I have left. I stand and what

now will I do? If you are here to tell me, then tell me.
If you are here to reset this body, then do so

delicately. The water is restless in its suspension. But this sand
is breathing again. To make one move, is to

terrify another. I cannot                                 you will
do this                                                             begin
again                                                               again.

(Previously published in Thrush Poetry Journal.)

During AWP, Larry will most often be found at the Book Fair Table (# 1132), for Orange Monkey Publishing (he founded the press). He will be reading at the Superstition Review reading on Wednesday, 5:00 p.m., at The Panorama: 1122 W 24th St, LA CA 90007, and also be at the Orange Monkey Publishing / ELJ Publications reading at Ham and Eggs Tavern, Thursday at 5:00 p.m., 433 W 8th St. Los Angeles, CA 90014. If you don't know Larry, stop by and meet him and try to make at least one of his readings. His award-winning first collection, Flight of August, will also be available at the Trio House Press Table (#1204).

Larry Eby is the author of two books of poetry, Flight of August, winner of the 2013 Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and Machinist in the Snow, ELJ Publications 2015. His work can be found in Forklift, Passages North, Fourteen Hills, Thrush Poetry Journal, and others. He is the Editor in Chief of Orange Monkey Publishing, a poetry press in California.