Lawrence A Simons

Lawrence A. Simons is a U.S. Army Veteran, a former carpenter, social worker, Deputy Circuit Court Clerk, and songwriter. He is a devoted husband and father, a musician, a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, a horseman and woodsman, and lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee.

Larry began writing poetry at the age of 16. He first had an “awakening” to poetry in high school at Columbia Military Academy, through the poetry of Walt Whitman and Robert Frost, and he has been passionate about poetry ever since. Larry is a 1975 graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he studied English, Poetry, Poetry Writing and Drama.

In the 1990’s, there was a vibrant open mic poetry scene in Nashville, and “performance poetry” was brand new. Larry was very active on the Nashville poetry scene, doing open mic readings and performance poetry. There were a number of cafés and night clubs that hosted poetry readings, but Nashville’s biggest venue for open mic poetry - the heart of the open mic poetry scene – was at Windows on the Cumberland, on Second Avenue. Hosted by “The Beatlicks” Joe and Pamela Speer, the scene was very popular and ran for several years, resulting in the publication of an Anthology, “Something We Cannot Name, An Anthology of Poetry, Windows on the Cumberland, 1984 – 1994,” published by Octus Orbus Press, Nashville, Tennessee, © 1997 by Octus Orbus Press, LLC. Larry was a regular poet in this scene, and he was honored to have two of his poems included in the Anthology. Larry also made poetry videos of some of his poems with Beatlick poet Joe Speer, and was featured on his TV show “Speer Presents.”

Larry was one of the first poets in Nashville to combine drumming with poetry readings. Playing a goat-skinned Haitian conga drum, and reading his poetry accompanied by percussionist Larry Murov, they were nick-named “Larry & Larry,” and performed at many readings. In 1993 and 1994, Larry was invited to read his poetry at the Summer Lights Festival in Nashville, and was the winner of the Poetry Slam Event. A “poetry slam” is a competition between poets, and the poet who receives the best applause and audience response wins.

Larry studied law at The Nashville School of Law, and became a lawyer in 1988. He earned the Trial Advocacy Skills Diploma at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, and he is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation, a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and the Tennessee Association for Justice. He is in private trial practice in Nashville, Tennessee with a focus on Social Security Disability, SSI, Personal Injury, Divorce and Family Law cases.