Poet Larry-eh

About

po·et lau·re·ate [ˌpōət ˈlôrēət]

Noun

1. an eminent poet traditionally appointed for life as a member of the British royal household.

— a poet appointed to, or regarded unofficially as holding, an honorary representative position in a particular country, region, or group:

"the poet laureate of young America"

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Larry Band

The poet

Larry Band

Works Of The Heart

Biography

The author, Lawrence L Band (known by his friends and family as Larry) was born in the City of Toronto in 1937 where he has lived all his life. He has been married since 1960 to the love of his life, Sheila. They are blessed with three children and six grandchildren. During Larry's school years in Toronto, he earned an Arts degree at the University of Toronto, followed by a Law degree at Osgoode Hall. He began practicing law in 1963. Several years later, Larry was made a Queen’s Counsel and appeared as counsel in all levels of the Courts in Ontario. Subsequently, he had an active practice in the field of immigration law and became a Member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. For eleven years, he presided over cases in the Appeal Division of that Board. He retired from the Appeal Division and from the practice of law at age seventy-two. As a lawyer and a judicial officer, his writing for over forty years consisted mainly of technical writing, including Court briefs and judgments. Since retirement, Larry has cast aside technical writing and engaged in what he calls “pop poetry,” namely unstructured, humorous, or serious rhymes about anything and everything. He wrote and published two books of poetry: • Camp Skymark, An ANTHOLOGY of POEMS and ARTICLES (2016) • WORKS OF THE HEART, POEMS & ART TO DELIGHT (2023) He also wrote a book of fiction, A WELL-FOUNDED FEAR, The Harrowing Saga of Four Displaced Women and Their Refugee in Canada (2023).

A note to readers

Omar Khayyam, over a thousand years ago, penned The Rubaiyat and wrote: “The Moving Finger writes: and, having writ, Moves on; nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it” (as translated by Edward Fitzgerald). That moving finger that moved at the beginning of Man’s history on earth was a forefinger pointing at Mankind in an accusatory manner relevant to his embracing evil. Thereafter, that pointing finger became a wagging finger that wagged back and forth at Mankind as a show of disgust relevant to Man’s increasingly evil ways. In more current times, that forefinger has changed to an upright middle finger informing Mankind that he has gone too far. If he has, the vehicle that has brought him to the edge of the abyss of his potential self-destruction was and is driven by his uncontrolled greed. Several of the poems in this website are serious in content and several are humorous. The latter are intended to underscore that laughter is one of Man’s most important and valuable survival faculties. Hope is another. Man has an innate need to laugh and cherishes the joie de vivre that laughter produces. Laughter feeds and adorns the essence of his being and tries to transform and overcome life’s ugliness. Laughter is the handmaiden of hope. Together they are warriors battling the war raging within Man fed by his greed. He will need much luck to win that war. I have been lucky in life and at age 86, I still am. I managed to live a life full of laughter, and on the rare occasions when I encountered the pangs of greed, I laughed and hoped. I saw those pangs retreat and rarely return. I did not laugh alone. My wife and I laughed together during the 63 years of our happy marriage and still do. We have, enjoy, and deeply love our three children and six grandchildren. The playground of our continued laughter is Canada. Canada is our home, and the source of our inspiration. My family and I are proud Canadians. I was born and bred in Toronto where I received my school education, that culminated in a B.A. degree and a Law degree, respectively from the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. I received a Queen’s Counsel, (Q.C.) honorarium in 1981. I have practiced law for over forty years in Toronto. This included the eleven years I served as a judicial officer and Member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. I am retired, healthy and live happily with my family in Toronto. We have spent many of our winters vacationing in the sun in the U.S.A. Luck certainly has been a lady to me and my family. To all my readers, I hope you enjoy my poems. I hope you will laugh and hope. These are certainly WORKS OF THE HEART!