Harvest (Audio CD, 2015)
Poems by Libby Wagner with music by Owen Ó Súilleabháin
Venture into the Italian countryside, the Irish coast and explore the grey environment of Wagner’s home city Seattle. In this 40-minute collection, Wagner transports listeners to a lake during a hot summer night, a pond in the early morning hours pre-sunrise, a quiet, dimly lit kitchen, and a quaint garden. Owen Ó Súilleabháin masterfully creates the musical tone to accommodate Wagner’s verbal environment—enhancing and not overwhelming the words.
Lose yourself in the world of an artist writing when she finally harvests the knowledge and confidence of the first part of her life and enters the second half of her journey with determination and curiosity. Wagner paints a picture for the listener. You can’t help but get lost in her story as she recounts moments in her life that are at the same time both humble and extraordinary. Each poem is drenched with crisp and vivid details, proving that a poet truly sees the world.
The partnership between poet and musician is one of the like-minded artists. Owen Ó Súilleabháin’s music is the finishing touch to the poet’s voice.
This collection is approachable, not academic nor rigid. It is warm and soothing, much like the “SOUP”; one imagines Wagner enjoyed in her poem of the same name.
