T WENT Y-SI XT H SEASON
CSO MusicNOW
Jessie Montgomery Mead Composer-in-Residence Sunday, December 3, 2023, at 4:30
MONTGOMERY AND THE BLACKNIFICENT 7 Musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Jessie Montgomery Violin Carlos Simon Piano Jasmine Barnes Soprano Russell Thomas Tenor Damien Geter Bass-baritone Donald Lee III Conductor MONTGOMERY & SIMON
Introduction Jessie Montgomery, violin Carlos Simon, piano
THOMPSON
In Response to Madness Qing Hou, violin Danny Jin, violin Danny Lai, viola Katinka Kleijn, cello
OKPEBHOLO
CryptOlogiE Emma Gerstein, flute John Bruce Yeh, clarinet Heather Wittels, violin Eran Meir, cello Winston Choi, piano
MONTGOMERY & SIMON
Interlude Jessie Montgomery, violin Carlos Simon, piano
RAGLAND
Eight Tones for Elijah Emma Gerstein, flute John Bruce Yeh, clarinet Heather Wittels, violin Eran Meir, cello Winston Choi, piano
RAGLAND
I Believe Jasmine Barnes, soprano Winston Choi, piano
BARNES
The United States Welcomes You Jasmine Barnes, soprano Damien Geter, bass-baritone Emma Gerstein, flute Winston Choi, piano Danny Jin, violin Qing Hou, violin Danny Lai, viola Katinka Kleijn, cello Donald Lee III, conductor World premiere, CSO MusicNOW commission
GETER
Annunciation Russell Thomas, tenor Ben Melsky, harp Danny Jin, violin Qing Hou, violin Danny Lai, viola Katinka Kleijn, cello Robert Kassinger, bass Donald Lee III, conductor
MONTGOMERY & SIMON
Postlude Jessie Montgomery, violin Carlos Simon, piano
There will be no intermission. Please note that this program includes content intended for mature audiences.
Major support for CSO MusicNOW is generously provided by the Zell Family Foundation, Sargent Family Foundation, Sally Mead Hands Foundation, and the Julian Family Foundation. Chicago Humanities is the preconcert event partner. This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Pizza for CSO MusicNOW is generously provided by Jet’s Pizza.
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COMMENTS JESSIE MONTGOMERY & CARLOS SIMON
Introduction, Interlude, and Postlude (2023) Jessie Montgomery and Carlos Simon perform original improvisations on violin and piano throughout this afternoon’s performance. Their music will be discussed from the stage.
JOEL THOMPSON
In Response to Madness (2019) Joel Thompson on In Response to Madness I only made one rule for myself: each time before sitting down to compose this piece, I had to ingest all the major news stories of the day. The result of this experiment in compositional process is a stream-of-consciousness response to the political mayhem, the massacres, the climate, and our seemingly futile attempts at trying to make things better. It is essentially a scream
into the void—or perhaps into the mirror. What does this music do for all of the chaos in the world? This craft to which I have dedicated my life cannot directly cool the planet, save lives, or reinstate civility and understanding into our government and society. The piece is merely a response to the madness— one to which I hope listeners can relate—but also, I hope it gives voice to our current angst and perhaps inspires us to change our tune.
SHAWN OKPEBHOLO
CryptOlogiE (2014) Shawn Okpebholo on CryptOlogiE CryptOlogiE, a quintet for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, is a musical exploration of what I treasure most: my wife and two daughters. Cryptology is the study of codes and the art of crafting and deciphering them. Full of confidence, color, and coded messages, the source material for this work is a carefully calculated serial pitch set of our birthdays [3, 2, 8, 11, 1, 7, 10, 9, 5, (7)];
a Morse code rhythm [. ...- .- / --- -.- .--. . -... .... --- .-.. ---] signaling my oldest daughter’s name [EVA OKPEBHOLO]; and recurring ostinatos on the pitches (C, D, and E), the first letters of my family. The mood of CryptOlogiE mirrors a blend of their personalities: highly energetic, sweet, and methodical.
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DAVE RAGLAND
Eight Tones for Elijah (2020) Dave Ragland on Eight Tones for Elijah This piece is composed to commemorate the life of Elijah McClain, a young, anemic, introverted Black violinist. Unarmed and innocent of any known
crimes, he was subdued and killed on his walk home by police and first responders. It is dedicated to all Black Americans who have died unjustly by police and authoritative action.
I Believe (2017) Dave Ragland on I Believe The text is derived from a translation of writing found on the wall (presumably by a Jewish person) in a concentration camp utilized in the Holocaust. In composing this piece, I hoped to convey a message of unmovable, unconquerable belief. I frequently think about the writer of these words and the hardships that brought about its writing. My
imagination leads me to think that they had to believe in the existence of a higher power working for the good— even in the face of mistreatment, torture, and genocide. There’s an old Negro spiritual that states that “He’s the same God today as He was yesterday.” And even for us living in today’s world, the sun still shines somewhere—as a signal of God’s ever-abounding light and love.
JASMINE BARNES
The United States Welcomes You (2023) Jasmine Barnes on The United States Welcomes You “The United States Welcomes You,” according to Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winner, former U.S. poet laureate and the writer of this poem, is “a poem about mistrust, and it begins, in the final lines, to suspect that such a stance of preemptive fear is dangerous to us all. . . . Mistrust and fear by
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law enforcement agents are rooted in the fear of difference” (Auburn Avenue, 2018). My personal interpretation of this poem is that the United States’ authoritative figures—whether that be government officials, law enforcement, or even socially appointed figures—all know that the nation’s laws support them and many abuse their position to cause
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harm towards those who are different and therefore unprotected by the same laws. These stances of fear and mistrust are the dividers between communities and the maintainers of prejudice. I also imagined the text to be similar to customs questioning when returning to the country or for immigrants entering the country: starting with a welcome, with good intentions, and morphing into an invasive interrogative style, creating discomfort. My musical approach is first that the singers are these authoritative figures. “The Stars and Stripes Forever” in the beginning of the piece is the extension of welcome—if you will, patriotic in nature—but most people don’t know the history of this song. While “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” composed by John Philip Sousa in 1896, is known for being the National March, it was in fact called “The Disaster March” in its earlier years, and it was used as a distress signal to indicate a life-threatening emergency was near. It was specifically used often in entertainment (theaters and circuses) to avoid crowd panic and allow personnel to organize the exit of an audience without causing chaos or panic. I thought this musically befitting as an extension of a welcome and as a signal of disaster. The next section positions the strings as the voices of the unheard, the silenced. These moan-like figures are meant to be like warnings to the interrogated, that this welcome isn’t what it seems. The melody of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” continues in the flute and counter melody in piano showing
intent to “cover up,” if you will, a disaster occurring. Then, we have the true intention of this welcome shown, and with sharp motions in the strings, we begin the interrogation. We start with a power struggle, with the question, “Why and by whose power were you sent?” This is musically represented with repetition of the sharp biting sounds, and brought to a halt with the question, “What do you see that you may wish to steal?,” as if waiting for, or expecting an answer. The next question—“Why this dancing?”—hosts West African rhythms and melodic structure. This structure proceeds with more modern approach in the section with the question “Have you stolen something?,” which finally breaks into a fear-filled, chaotic sound world. The section with the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” reference is meant to feel like a more militant section, like a slower march. There are hints of the melody from “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” is known as the song of the Union Army , but I also later highlight “Dixie,” the Confederate song , in a more distorted fashion. The reason for these songs was to show the historical significance of how this fear of Black people continued to manifest specifically, but also how it extended to any minority group in America. I incorporated sounds of gospel as almost a symbol of mocking in the section with the question “And why do you invade our night, hands raised, eyes wide?” The accelerando racing to a complete “mute” is meant to symbolize CS O.O RG
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a chase. Sourcing from common abuse of power, like law enforcement chasing a subject (innocent or not) to ease their intrinsic fears. The piece ends with the same music that started the interrogation, but
slower paced, because the question turns internal to the singers (authoritative figures). This idea of atonement is represented by still exhibiting this feeling of fear, but now fear for oneself.
DAMIEN GETER
Annunciation (2022) Damien Geter on Annunciation Annunciation consists of a series of seven visions that capture a moment of ecstasy between the narrator (or singer) and his lover. Each vision has its own vibe, with textures that range from more transparent to thicker moments which symbolize higher points of passion. The cello plays the part of the singer’s lover throughout, first appearing noticeably to the audience with a series of ascending trills, “Into my room, he reascends . . . ” Of particular note is Vision Five, when the voice and cello are in unison, this time, with the narrator singing the words of his partner (the cello).
Joshua Banbury, librettist, on Annunciation The year 2030 will mark 2000 years since the annunciation of the Virgin Mary. What would an annunciation look like in this new age? I believe this divine being could be conceived by a night of passion between men. Annunciation imagines the coming of a new deity, maturated by a beautiful young Black man. In this song cycle, he recounts seven vignettes from his night of ecstasy with a mysterious and supernatural man.
Texts are available upon request or online at cso.org/program.
Major support for CSO MusicNOW is generously provided by the Zell Family Foundation, Sargent Family Foundation, Sally Mead Hands Foundation, and the Julian Family Foundation. 6
PROFILES Jessie Montgomery Composer, Violin Jessie Montgomery, Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year, is an acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator whose music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of twenty-first century American sound and experience. In July 2021, she began a three-year appointment as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence. Her growing body of work includes solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works, as well as collaborations with distinguished choreographers. Recent premieres include CSO commissions Hymn for Everyone (2021) and Transfigure to Grace (2023); Five Freedom Songs (2021), a song cycle for soprano Julia Bullock; a set of concertos—DIVIDED (2022), Rounds (2021), and L.E.S. Characters (2020); and a site-specific collaboration for Bard SummerScape and Pam Tanowitz Dance (2021). Highlights of her 2023–24 season include the world premieres of orchestral works for violinist Joshua Bell; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; a consortium led by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for New Music USA Amplifying Voices; the violin duo Musings for CSO MusicNOW and the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and new settings of various works by choreographer Donald Byrd for Nashville Ballet. Montgomery has been recognized with many prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation. Her Soul Force is featured on the 2022 Grammy Award–winning recording by the New York Youth Symphony. She is currently visiting faculty at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, Bard College, and the New School, and has been affiliated with the Sphinx Organization since 1999. Montgomery holds degrees from the Juilliard School and New York University and is currently a doctoral candidate in music composition at Princeton University.
Carlos Simon Composer, Piano Grammy-nominated Carlos Simon is a multi-genre composer and performer who is a passionate advocate for diversity in music. As winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence 2021 and composer-inresidence at the Kennedy Center, Simon is a unique voice and soughtafter cultural ambassador for new music globally as well as an important
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spokesperson for the Black community and new audiences. Simon is passionate about social outreach, and his work addresses complex themes that include migration, belonging, and community—especially illuminating the transatlantic slave trade, the Jim and Jane Crow era, and the injustice people of African ancestry face today. His unique upbringing and journey into music has resulted in his music possessing both classical textures and structures in a contemporary aesthetic alongside strong jazz, hip-hop, and heavy gospel influences, as well as branching out into the world of film; Carlos Simon’s music transcends genre. He is listed among The Kennedy Center Next 50 leaders, and his recent commissions have been granted by the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Kennedy Center, Minnesota Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, PBS, and the Washington National Opera; in addition to his work being set to ballets by Washington National Ballet and American Ballet Theater. He is signed to Decca Records/Classics and his next album, following his Grammynominated release, which sees original music and a variety of celebrated guest artists with Carlos at the piano, will be out in 2023.
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Joel Thompson Composer Joel Thompson is an Atlanta-based composer, conductor, and educator best known for Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, his choral work premiered by the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club and conductor Eugene Rogers, which won the 2018 American Prize for Choral Composition. Thompson is committed to creating spaces for healing and community through music. He has collaborated with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Atlanta Master Chorale, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and EXIGENCE–a Sphinx Vocal Ensemble. He serves as composer-in-residence at the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. His new opera, The Snowy Day, was premiered by Houston Grand Opera in December 2021.
Shawn Okpebholo Composer Grammy-nominated artist Shawn E. Okpebholo is a critically acclaimed and award-winning composer. Some of his honors include the Academy of Arts and Letters Walter Hinrichsen Award in P H OTO S C O U R T E SY O F T H E A R T I S T S
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2022, first-place winner of the 2020 American Prize in Composition (professional/wind band division), and the inaugural awardee of the AdamsOwens Composition Award. Okpebholo’s music has been featured in recital and concert series in nearly every U.S. state and around the world, including the Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Newport New Music Festival, and the Cincinnati and Houston symphony orchestras. His art songs have been presented in concert by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Fort Worth Opera, UrbanArias, Portland Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Chicago Opera Theater. His chamber music has been performed by Eighth Blackbird, Copland House Ensemble, Picosa, Fifth House Ensemble, Lincoln Trio, and others, and his music has been presented at prestigious performance spaces such as Carnegie and Wigmore halls as well as the Kennedy, Lincoln, and Kimmel centers. Okpebholo frequently receives commissions from noted soloists, universities, and organizations. His work has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, Illinois Arts Council, Tangeman Sacred Music Center, and others. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He recently completed a residency with the Chicago Opera Theater, culminating in the P H OTO BY PA D R I O N S C OT T
premiere of his first opera, The CookOff, with librettist Mark Campbell. He currently holds the position of Jonathan Blanchard Professor of Music Composition at Wheaton CollegeConservatory of Music and serves as the Saykaly Garbulinska Composerin-Residence of the Lexington Philharmonic.
Dave Ragland Composer Dave Ragland is a four-time Emmy– nominated composer, vocalist, pianist, and conductor. He was named first-place winner of the Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera Project. He also received the 2022 Adams-Owens Composition Award by the African American Art Song Alliance. Ragland has received the 2021 American Prize in Composition; two Telly awards; and two Midsouth Regional Emmy nominations for his work as composer and audio engineer of Nashville Opera’s One Vote Won, an opera commemorating the centennial of woman suffrage. Ragland recently collaborated with Damon Davis, Ted Hearne, Alarm Will Sound, and Inversion Vocal Ensemble on Davis’s concept opera Ligeia Mare. Ragland previously collaborated with librettist Mary McCallum to create the children’s opera Charlie and the Wolf for Cedar Rapids Opera and the educational opera Beatrice CS O.O RG
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for Portland Opera (Oregon). Ragland also arranged “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for Grammy-nominated opera singer Lawrence Brownlee for Concert for Inauguration Day presented by Washington National Opera. Ragland, in collaboration with Inversion Vocal Ensemble, shackled feet DANCE, and Diaspora Orchestra, debuted his opera Steal Away while artist-in-residence for OZ Arts Nashville. Additional compositional credits include Nashville Symphony, Nashville Ballet, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, chatterbird, Intersection Contemporary Ensemble, and the ALIAS Chamber Ensemble. Dave Ragland was the 2020 GradyRayam Negro Spirituals Foundation Composer-in-Residence. He is a member of the inaugural cohort of composers for the National Teachers of Singing (NATS) Mentoring Program, served as chorus master for Nashville Symphony’s Let Freedom Sing, and is the artistic director of Inversion Vocal Ensemble.
Jasmine Barnes Composer, Soprano Jasmine Barnes is a composer and vocalist whose work has been performed all over the world. As a composer, she embraces a variety of genres, formats, and instrumentations, with a specialty of writing for the voice.
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Barnes is currently a composer-inresidence for American Lyric Theater. She previously was a composer fellow at Chautauqua Opera and composer-in-residence with All Classical Portland. Recent commissions have come from respected institutions nationwide, including Washington National Opera (in celebration of the Kennedy Center’s fiftieth anniversary), Bare Opera, Resonance Ensemble, Tapestry Choir, CityMusic Cleveland, Lyric Fest in Philadelphia, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Burleigh Music Festival, Symphony Number One, Baltimore Musicales, and the Voic(ed) Project, among others. Upcoming engagements include the world premiere of Plumshuga at Stages Houston, an arrangement of spirituals commissioned by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to debut at Carnegie Hall performed by Karen Slack and Will Liverman, and a new song cycle commissioned by world-renowned tenor Russell Thomas to be performed at Los Angeles Opera. Other recent commissions include Might Call You Art for CityMusic Cleveland, Portraits: Douglass & Tubman for Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Maternità for Takesha Meshé Kizart and Anima Mundi Productions, and I Will Follow You into the Dark with American Lyric Theater.
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Damien Geter Composer, Bass-baritone Acclaimed composer Damien Geter infuses classical music with styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice; he also is a celebrated bass-baritone. His varied credits include performances from the operatic stage to the television screen. He is Richmond Symphony’s composerin-residence, Portland Opera’s interim music director and artistic adviser, and Resonance Ensemble’s artistic adviser. Geter’s growing body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and operatic music. In the 2023–24 season, Des Moines Metro Opera presents the full-length world premiere of his American Apollo. Virginia Opera holds a workshop of Loving v. Virginia, a work co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, which premieres as part of Virginia Opera’s fiftieth anniversary season in 2025. The Richmond Symphony also premieres a work to be conducted by Valentina Peleggi. Additionally, the Recording Inclusivity Initiative records String Quartet no. 1 (Neo-Soul). Last season, Cotton saw its world premiere in Philadelphia, followed by its Washington, D.C., premiere at the Kennedy Center, presented by Washington Performing Arts. His motet was performed by Emmanuel Music. Geter also conducted his own piece, P H OTO S BY R A C H E L H A D I A S H A R , FAY F OX
An African American Requiem, at Fort Worth Opera; plus, he led the performance of Absence: Terence Blanchard at Portland Opera. Geter is the owner of DG Music, Sans Fear Publishing. Music in Context: An Examination of Western European Music Through a Sociopolitical Lens, a book that he coauthored, is available on Amazon or from the publisher, Kendall Hunt.
Russell Thomas Tenor American tenor Russell Thomas is now one of the most sought-after tenors of his generation, having established his reputation in key lyric roles such as Don Carlo, Manrico (Il trovatore), Don Alvaro (La forza del destino), and Pollione (Norma). As an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Program, Thomas most recently returned there as Don Carlo in David McVicar’s staging under the baton of Carlo Rizzi, and previously performed as Rodolfo (La bohème) and Ismaele (Nabucco), the latter of which was broadcast worldwide via the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series. In 2021 Thomas became the first artist-in-residence at LA Opera, a role that takes him to the heart of the company not only as a performer but also as a curator of the new After Hours recital series and as a mentor to the Russell CS O.O RG
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Thomas Young Artists. In the 2022–23 season, Thomas sang in the world premiere of Fire and Blue Sky, a concert work commissioned by Thomas and inspired by his personal journey as an artist, written by Emmy Award–winning composer Joel Thompson. Highlights this season include Thomas’s house debut at Den Norske Opera as Don Alvaro (La forza del destino) under Paolo Arrivabeni; his house debut at Staatsoper Hamburg in the title role of Peter Konwitschny’s Don Carlos under Leo Hussain; and his title role debut in Parsifal with Houston Grand Opera. Thomas will also return to Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Cavaradossi (Tosca) under Alexander Soddy.
Donald Lee III Conductor Conductor Donald Lee III is a Virginia native and current member of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center emerging artist training program at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Since the start of his tenure in 2021, Lee has conducted the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra for many
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performances, including The Magic Victrola, Rising Stars in Concert, and Sunday in the Park with Lyric. Most recently, Lee was assistant conductor and pianist in the orchestra pit for the world premiere of The Factotum in collaboration with Lyric Unlimited and the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. Lee has enjoyed great accomplishments at some of the nation’s leading opera companies, including Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Lee also shadowed Enrique Mazzola at the Deutsche Oper Berlin for a production of Les vêpres siciliennes and worked with Opera NexGen for its 2021 production of Night Trip, a new one-act opera from composer Carlos Simon and librettist Sandra Seaton. Lee is dedicated to new works and has showcased his ability to improvise across multiple genres of music. In addition to conducting, Lee is an avid pianist and coach and was also the first pianist to record Francis Johnson’s A Collection of New Cotillons, the oldest surviving composition published by a Black American composer. An alumnus of James Madison University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Lee also served as assistant professor of piano at Kentucky State University.
TEXTS MONTGOMERY AND THE BLACKNIFICENT 7 Please note that this program includes content intended for mature audiences.
DAMIEN GETER
Annunciation Vision One
DAVE RAGLAND
Eight Tones for Elijah This piece may be performed as a vocalise: “Ah” and “Ooh” may be used and interchanged at liberty.
I Believe
into my room he reascends into my room and it begins all at once like some fever dream he comes in to engender me into my room he reascends into me and it begins
I believe in the sun, Even when it is not shining. I believe in love, Even when I feel it not. I believe in God, Even when He is silent. I believe in the sun, in love, in God.
Vision Two
—Anonymous
Vision Three
JASMINE BARNES
The United States Welcomes You The United States Welcomes You Why and by whose power were you sent? What do you see that you may wish to steal? Why this dancing? Why do your dark bodies Drink up all the light? What are you demanding That we feel? Have you stolen something? Then What is that leaping in your chest? What is The nature of your mission? Do you seek To offer a confession? Have you anything to do With others brought by us to harm? Then Why are you afraid? And why do you invade Our night, hands raised, eyes wide, mute As ghosts? Is there something you wish to confess? Is this some enigmatic type of test? What if we Fail? How and to whom do we address our appeal? Tracy K. Smith, “The United States Welcomes You” from Wade in the Water. Copyright © 2018 by Tracy K. Smith Reprinted by permission of Graywolf Press, graywolfpress.org
see the egg that broke see the pool of yolk morphing mounting into mortal flesh man in man endowed above the rest
how the fruitful form moves in mine man in man together limp in ecstasy divine
Vision Four now on midnight skin lies the golden chain again lapped round his sweaty nape . . .
Vision Five I’ll take you to a lake undress in the morning light leave nothing in our wake undress, beloved let nothing remain undress, beloved leave only your chain
Vision Six and so, as sunlight burned on the lake he moved in me the gold chain dangled on my face
Vision Seven was I seeing things in the fever dream? may the music never end into my room I pray he reascends —Joshua Banbury, “Annunciation: Visions from the Fever Dream,” 2022
DECEMBER 3, 2023