Lots of stuff Happening!

Hi folks: There's a lot of stuff going on for me right now. I'm involved in the Rochester Open Poetry Event tomorrow night at St. John Fisher College ( 3690 East Ave in Pittsford ,NY) , I've got my first feature of the year coming up on Tuesday ,January 25Th at the Tango Cafe 389 Gregory St. In Rochester, NY. Email the host at frankjudge@gmail.com for more info or driving directions if you want to come. I also just applied to be listed in the Poets and Writer's Foundation's Directory of Poets. I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing this sooner but in my 14 year career , I'd never thought or knew about this till now. It makes it easier for folks to get Poets and Writer's Grants to PAY YOU FOR YOUR READINGS AND OR WORKSHOPS if your listed. If interested you should definitely visit www.pw.org and look into it! Whew! Like I said there's lots of stuff happening this week. Now that that's all out of the way , Here's this weeks poem:

How I got my name

By Lawrence R. Berger

A lot of people think I'm called " Laughing" Larry Berger

because I have a very powerful , unique and infectious laugh.

While I do posses this , that's not the reason!

Some people think it's because I earned money

by having up and coming comics pay me to either listen to jokes

over the phone or sit in the audience at there auditions

and laugh at their jokes giving them a better shot at jobs then they might otherwise have had. While I did do this , that's not the reason either!

Some folks think I got my name simply because I like to laugh a lot.

Also, true but still not the reason!

After 14 years in the poetry scene I'm finally ready to reveal the truth behind why I'm called "Laughing" Larry B. Here's the truth:

In 1996 shortly after I did my first featured reading I attended the open mic reading at a place called THE ROSE CAFE in Venice, California. I was doing my APF ( Audience Participation Freestyle!) thing and a fellow poet named Richard Beban called out " Will you please stop laughing, Larry? " and I wrote this:

Stop Laughing?

Why?

What's wrong with having a highly developed seance of humor?

Laughter is a wave of joy and natures first breath.

To stop laughing is to resign ourselves to coffins of skin.

To have eyes vacant of life stare back at us from the bathroom mirror.

Stop laughing?

Somehow

I DON'T THINK SO!

The audience went wild! Everybody Including Richard gave me a standing ovation and I've been "Laughing" Larry ever since!

now you know the truth!

see you next week.