Poet Denise Levertov bids us “to go by the asters/and breathe/ the sweetness that hovers/ in August about the tall milkweeds.” Levertov was associated with the Black Mountain poets and published some of her poetry in the Black Mountain Review. August offers quintessential summer with just a touch of bittersweetness: hot sun, fields high with corn, vines sagging with tomatoes, the last of the long, lazy days before lightning bug flashes fade, nights come on earlier and school bells signal a new year.
Gina Malone, Editor
As we continue to tread lightly back into the lives we knew before the pandemic, we turn our thoughts to weddings. For those planning a big to-do or something smaller, we’ve gathered a few ideas for staging a perfect ceremony, including some of the details that make the day unforgettable.
Art by Robert Johnson graces this month’s cover. A naturalist with a deep connection to preserving our beautiful, wild places, Johnson creates miniature worlds, inviting viewers to lose themselves there and to celebrate the connection we all can—and should—have with our natural environment.
If you’re ready to get out and about again, opportunities abound, including popular festivals in Jackson County, North Carolina’s brand-new Cider Trail, Black Mountain’s Sourwood Festival (p. 68) and ASAP’s annual Farm Tour. Upcoming art events include Penland Gallery’s annual auction, the Spruce Pine Potters Market, the Come to Leicester Studio Tour and The Gallery at Flat Rock’s Art in Bloom.
The ending lines of Levertov’s poem The Departure make me think of summer’s end and packing up to head home after a day in the sun: “And for god’s sake/don’t let’s leave in the end/without the ocean! Put it/in there among the shoes, and/tie the moon on behind. It’s time!”
May you find time to linger in these last days of summer.
Gina Malone can be reached at gina@thelaurelofasheville.com
