Sample: "Heartbeats" from "Birth Elegy"
(partial setting stopping at asterisk)

It was a warm but winter Thursday,
quiet, full of time spent
hearing heartbeats.
Hers was lost.
Someone cried we'll find it:
a deep incision, strong tugs
until she, herself, was seen,
eyes closed, mouth down,
arms and legs as silent
as her mother's voice.*
Around her neck, the line
that brought her ife and
brought her death.

An informal recording of "Heartbeats" was made in the composer's living room years ago. We found the battered old audio tape and converted it to an mp3 file. The piano bench squeaks and the tape wavers off pitch occasionally, but be brave and click here to listen anyway!

Sung by Judith Caldwell, soprano, with Susan Bingham, piano