Interbeing review

Hello friends,
Here is a review of my forthcoming book, “Interbeing,” by Athens poet Michelle Castleberry. Her collection “Dissecting the Angel” (2013) was nominated for Georgia poetry book of the year. — Gene

“In a statement to the United Nations in 2015, Thich Nhat Hanh said this: “This beautiful, bounteous, life-giving planet we call Earth has given birth to each one of us, and each one of us carries the Earth within every cell of our body.”

These words speak to the concept of Interbeing, the title and heartbeat of Eugene Bianchi’s fourth collection of poems. Subtitled New and Selected Poems on Ecological Spirituality, this book encompasses elliptical arcs between the deeply personal, as with the death of his younger brother, and the cosmic.

In a time of pandemic, rampant fires, and political rage, Bianchi’s meditative long view into creation serves as a necessary companion and challenge to stay present.”