Lentement, lentement, lentement,
the old man says. That is how the trees
must grow, like the hairs on your head.
From “Gardening the Forest” by Marcia LeBeau
Contributors: Christine Catalano, Susan G. Duncan, JT Gill, E. Branden Hart, Katrina Johnston, James Kincaid, Marcia LeBeau, Lauren Yates
We would love to hear from you! Tell us about your favorite piece in this latest issue.
What a terrific issue–proud to be a part of it.
Thanks,
Jim
Love the imagery in Marcia LeBeau’s piece. So vivid and tangible.
I’ve returned to this issue several times in the past two days to reread Marcia LeBeau’s poem. The imagery is luxurious, and the narrative so finely wrought–and anyone who can seamlessly weave Miley Cyrus and iPhones together with Anne Boleyn and Stradivariuses gets my vote for the poet of the year!
I love “Gardening the Forest”. The Stradivarius of poems.
Thank you to Joyce, Christina and Lee for your kind comments!
I, too, am very proud to be included in this issue of Crack the Spine.
I wanted to share a great moment I had on Saturday due to the publication of “Gardening the Forest”—
I had sent the link to the poem to the head of my chamber music workshop, Mary Babiarz. It was from an article she had read at a rehearsal that I had drawn my inspiration. On Saturday, she asked me if I would read it to the workshop of about 45 musicians. I agreed and read it off the website on my phone. Afterwards, people came up to me and asked me to repeat the name of site they could read it on. It was so nice to give the poem voice while it’s in the journal. It was also the first time I had read that poem to a group and I always think a poem isn’t truly finished until it’s read to an audience.
Hopefully, it gets some more people to the site to read all the offerings!
Thanks again for including me. -Marcia