firegarden / jardín-de-fuego

by Gail Langstroth

Award winning poet Ross Gay (The Book of Delights and Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude) writes about Langstroth’s debut book:

Gail Langstroth asks early in her beautiful, brilliant, luminous book firegarden, “Do we take this window with us for the next life?” And it occurs to me that these poems—shimmering, tactile, bodily, bodying—are themselves windows, all looking into the next life, throwing themselves open to the next life, which is one of the places we go after reading these poems. Which is to say, these are poems of transformation and transcendence. Poems of wonder and reaching. Which is to say, they will change us together.

Since my twenty-first birthday the Iberian Peninsula has been a source of inspiration for me: its land, language, poetry and music. Sitting in Spanish cafes between rehearsals and classes, with moments to muse and write, I began to translate my own poems. The next phase occurred around kitchen tables with friends and native speakers.

One Saturday morning in Madrid, I met one of the two individuals living in all of Spain who knew anything about anthroposophy. The day publisher Roberto Garcia of Get Fresh Books accepted my bi-lingual poetry manuscript, I celebrated that my first book would be in Spanish and English! firegarden / jardín-de-fuego is now in print. Launch and release events have been postponed due to the pandemic, but we eagerly forge ahead.

Normally in a book presentation, the poet is introduced then proceeds to a microphone and reads a selection of poems. As a eurythmist presenting my own book,

I wanted to include eurythmy, for if a poem is poem it says move me! So I asked NYC-based actor, David Deblinger, to help me stage a selection of firegarden’s poems. I wanted my solo show to be practical and portable.

I make a five square-meter area into a stage, bring two props, find a chair on site, and begin. The performance can be in both Spanish and English, or either language alone. Following the performance is a book signing.

I also offer dynamic Wordmoves Writing Workshops in which we awaken language and the poem locked in our bodies. Out of movement we write, and then we move what we have written. Consider inviting me to your community to share the joys of Eurythmy and Poetry! No previous experience needed!

horse-hay simple

when

you step solo—turf-infinite

& you in-body swallow flames

that no fire wants—

when you step

solo

you shed

ash that is left

simple paja

cuando

tú andas solo—tierra-dentro

y tragas en tu cuerpo las llamas

que ningún fuego quiere—

cuando tú

andas solo

arrojas

la ceniza que queda

Photo by Georg Tedeschi georgtedeschi.com

Gail Langstroth (gplcampostella@gmail.com) poet, eurythmist, teacher, and stage artist Gail Langstroth has collaborated and performed with international artists in North and South America, Japan, Spain, Germany, Russia, and Romania. She is online at www.wordmoves.com; for more about her book visit Get Fresh Books at gfbpublishing.org/shop. She has a portfolio online at bakerartist.org/portfolios/gail-langstroth.