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Dale Trumbore
Dale Trumbore
August (from A Calendar of Light)
The transition from warm summer nights to the first chill of autumn.
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A Calendar of Light
SATB Chorus
August depicts the transition from warm summer nights to the first chill of autumn, noting the ways we register this shifting season in our own actions. This piece is excerpted from A Calendar of Light, a 75-minute work that takes the shape of a calendar and holds us accountable for our relationship with the earth, especially in the greater context of climate change. Ultimately, the piece calls for reflection and action.
Composer’s Notes
This work was commissioned by The Esoterics and is dedicated, with gratitude, to its Artistic Director, Eric Banks. A Calendar of Light was composed in part at the Tusen Takk Foundation, with thanks to Geoffrey Peckham and Patricia Melzer for their generous support.
Text
Summer sings its long song, and all the notes are green.
But there’s a click, somewhere in the middle
of the month, as we reach the turning point, the apex,
a Ferris wheel, cars tipping and tilting over the top,
and we see September up ahead, school and schedules
returning. And there’s the first night you step outside
and hear the katydids arguing, six more weeks
to frost, and you know you can make it through to fall.
Dark now at eight, nights finally cooling off for sleep,
no more twisting in damp sheets, hearing mosquitoes’
thirsty whines. Lakes of chicory and Queen Anne’s lace
mirror the sky’s high cirrus. Evenings grow chilly,
time for old sweaters and sweatpants, lying in the hammock
squinting to read in the quick-coming dusk.
A few fireflies punctuate the night’s black text,
and the moonlight is so thick, you could swim in it
until you reach the other side.
—Barbara Crooker
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