have unraveled in air
reeking of the sanitizing agent
lavished on floors and countertops.
The hushed, intermingled voices
have evaporated: closing
deals of commerce; shoring up
the fragile walls of friendship;
gracing the pink snifters
of lovers’ ears with the brandy
of sweet nothings. But the beans
remain, steeped and expectant
in their glossy, brightly colored
sacks, each bean a dark, little
cottage crowded with its cabin-
fevered shut-in of caffeine.
[+]
Timberline Press (Fulton, MO) brought out Larry's
first collection of poetry, The Lighthouse Keeper,
in early 2001. He has published ten additional full-length
collections of poems, several of which have received
prizes and awards, including two Texas Review
Poetry Prizes (2001 and 2004), the 2003 Western
Heritage Award (National Cowboy & Western
Heritage Museum), and the 2004 Violet Crown
Book Award (Writers’ League of Texas). His poetry
has also been nominated for the 2007 Poets’ Prize
(West Chester University/Nicholas Roerich Museum),
five Pushcart Prizes, a Best of the Net award,
and has received six Spur Award Finalist citations from
Western Writers of America. His Larry D. Thomas:
New and Selected Poems (TCU Press, 2008)
was short-listed for the coveted National Book Award.
