Sleep Song (low voice)

Ann Silsbee’s chapbook “”Naming the Disappeared”” explores a small and unusual poetic form: nine lines of nine syllables each. “”Sleep Song”” captured my imagination immediately with this intimate image: “”just the passing in and out of breath.”” How might the peaceful breath of sleep be translated into music, along with a mother’s vulnerability, thoughtfulness, and love?

Composer’s Note about the poet: As a graduate student in music composition at Cornell University, I was only vaguely aware of Ann Silsbee, the first woman to receive a doctorate in my program. A longtime resident of Ithaca, New York, she still lived in town, and I occasionally saw her at concerts, lectures, and other events. While I was eager to know other women in what was then still a male-dominated field, our thirty-year age difference always seemed an obstacle to deeper friendship.

It wasn’t until I moved back to Ithaca five years after receiving my own doctorate that I began to get to know Ann. By that time I was loving every minute of being the mother of two preschool boys but struggling mightily to figure out who I was as a composer. Meanwhile Ann had turned her creativity towards poetry, writing exquisitely crafted pieces on themes of nature, family and memory. She became not only a supportive colleague but also a trusted friend. As the mother of two sons herself, she understood well the challenges of balancing work and family.

A lover of beauty in all forms, she served me many delicious lunches at her home, thoughtfully arranging the portions on each plate. Afterwards she often read a poem she was working on. She was always thoughtful, honest, and deeply kind. I am glad to have had her as a friend.

About Ann Silsbee: Poet, composer and pianist Ann Loomis Silsbee (1930-2003) was the first woman to receive a doctoral degree in music composition from Cornell University. She went on to write over fifty works for solo, chamber, orchestral and operatic forces, some of which were recorded on CRI, Northeastern and Spectrum. She devoted her later creative years to poetry, which appeared in publications such as Seneca Review, Atlanta Review and Spoon River Poetry Review, as well as in the chapbook, “”Naming The Disappeared.”” Her first book-length poetry collection, “”Orioling,”” received the Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award. It was published by Red Hen Press in 2003, shortly before a sudden recurrence of cancer led to Ann’s death. Later that same year her second book, “”The Book of Ga,”” was published by CustomWords.

-Elizabeth Alexander