Louise Bogan, someone quite beloved at The Banyan Review, once wrote that “the poem is always the last resort,” an “evocation…far more bitter than reality, or far more lovely.” To me this was a revelation. Ever since I encountered these words, and although I may have been touched by them —may dear Louise forgive me— differently than how she meant, they told me something essential about poets; their willingness is to go deep into what it means to be human in a world far from ideal and at times short on compassion, but breathtakingly beautiful nonetheless.
Having been given the gift of editing Banyan’s Spring issue, I was reminded of a poet’s real work by everything you will find in this issue: the exalted and the grieving, the ember of wisdom in ordinary moments, celebrations and elegies, mothers and fathers, how love and cruelty wrestle, and how life is portrayed in unforgettable ways.
I’m grateful for poets who “jump into work head first,” and “move in a common rhythm when the food must come in or the fire be put out,” as Marge Piercy wrote. I’m grateful to everyone who submitted their work, to the poets included in these pages, to Sarah Curtis for carefully designing every page, and to Tayve Neese, our founding editor, for being concerned with keeping our hearts alive.
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