The poems in Holding the Body Back hold back nothing in their honesty and their willingness to face the facts, but they also hold back none of the joy that inhabits them. In their vivid images and straightforward style, Marsha Witham Whitman's latest poems are a gift to us all. About the Author Marsha Witham Whitman's career has been spent in music as teacher, choral conductor, arranger, translator, impresario, singer, and instrumentalist. A bachelor's and master's graduate of The Hartt School, she devoted over three decades to performing, teaching, and directing choirs, including pieces she commissioned. Since her childhood days moving around the US and Europe, she has kept a journal filled with both everyday experiences and poetry. These formative years contributed to a perpetual fascination with language, an abiding interest in nature, and a love of family history. Marsha lives in Connecticut where she raised a daughter and son with her husband Frank and now enjoys visiting them and her three grandchildren on both coasts.