Christmas poem

                        Saying Merry Christmas

Saying “Merry Christmas” 100 times per year

For 60 years yields nearly 6000 smiles of cheer.

Must we? And, you don’t have to have it white,

In order for Christmas to feel right.

Nor do we have to have three wise men standing

In awe beside a manger, each one handing

Over costly gifts: frankincense, myrrh, and gold.

Angels are nice, especially when they sing five-fold

Amens and Halleluiahs, announcing the birth

Of the Child, the Messiah, a King on Earth.

But we’ve had Christmases before sans seraph,

And no one reported the loss to the sheriff.

What some must have is the vision

Of a halo of love for each precision-

Made person. When you celebrate the Christ-

Child’s birth, what’s preferred? How’s it spiced?

Books by Larry

Numerous articles in referreed journals and the following books:

Language Exploration and Awareness: A Resource Book for Teachers, New York, Longman Publishing Group, 1993.

Language Exploration and Awareness: A Resource Book for Teachers, (Reprint of the 1st edition), Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 1996.

Language Exploration and Awareness: A Resource Book for Teachers, 2nd edition, Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 1998.

Linguistics for L2 Teachers, Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 2001.

Language Exploration and Awareness: A Resource Book for Teachers, 3rd edition, Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 2006.

Language Exploration and Awareness: A Resource Book for Teachers, 3rd edition, translated into Korean language, Pagijong Press, Seoul, South Korea. 2010.

Songs of Sadness, Songs of Love (Novel). AuthorHouse. Bloomington, IN May 2010

The China-Africa Parallax (Novel). AuthorHouse. Bloomington, IN December 2010

Tell Me You Love Me

He sits on his hind-quarters
Staring at me with those beagle
Eyes hoping to finagle
Attention away from the TV reporter.

Yesterday’s expressions don’t count
Because he has no memory or
Any mental capacity to reach for
Or beyond his care-giver’s account.

Neither can he hope for tomorrow;
He has no day after this day. His
Time is now and only now is
For him, an operantly conditioned fellow.

His eyes plea, “Tell me you love me;
“Pat my head, rub my belly, say my name.”
Every day after day after day it's the same.
"Please tell me you love me."

Hard Work

          

              Hard Work

It’s hellacious work out in the

Extremities of the weather.

When exhales become

Frozen, defined shapes, that’s cold!

It’s killer work when arms,

Protruding from their florescent

Orange or yellow bibs, shine like

They’ve been polished by an invisible

Kiwi or Esquire spirit.

Roberto Clemente

            Made hard look easy.

That’s what artists do.

Tote that barge,

Lift that bale,

You load 16 tons

Workin’ on a chain gang.

With Big Bad John or John Henry,

Working hard is heroic. With

Samson, however, it’s suicide.

Are you working hard?

            Hardly workin’;

Working hard at staying out of hard work.

Trying to use a new

Language is grueling. You

Get tang-toungled. Or tu

Is used when ustedes should

Be. Even in the Mother

Tongue it’s rigorous

Work to stare at the screen, or

Out the window and then

Attempt to frame an idea with words.