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Dale Trumbore
Dale Trumbore
January (from A Calendar of Light)
A stark landscape: a world wrapped in ice, “poised on the rim of the year.”
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A Calendar of Light
SSAA Chorus
January depicts a stark landscape. Here, we find a world wrapped in ice, “poised on the rim of the year,” in which winter’s silence encourages stillness and introspection. 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
A Calendar of Light 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.
-Dale Trumbore
Text
JANUARY
Mornings come slowly, the sun reluctant,
its pale face scarcely warming.
We linger at coffee, watch birds at the feeder.
Their foliage is dull, muted.
The sky is barely blue.
We wrap ourselves in layers of wool, withdraw.
January’s not the season of love.
Up on the hill, each black tree is etched,
clean and sharp, whittled down
to limb, branch, twig.
Glass ferns cover the windows,
their fronds blur the thin light.
And here we are, poised on the rim of the year,
every breath visible,
this icy globe turning.
The silence between us deepens,
blue as the shadows in snow.
—Barbara Crooker
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