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I. Psalm
II. FISHERMAN
III. Laĭs to Aphrodite

Nick Main, baritone
David Friend, piano

Words by Alicia Ostriker

lyrics

Summer Songs
by Alicia Ostriker

I. Psalm

I am not lyric any more
I will not play the harp
for your pleasure

I will not make a joyful
noise to you, neither
will I lament

for I know you drink
lamentation, too,
like wine

so I dully repeat
you hurt me
I hate you

I pull my eyes away from the hills
I will not kill for you
I will never love you again

unless you ask me

II. FISHERMAN

Imagine a fisherman in summer deep
Enough to have drowned all other seasons—

His river flows between banks of ash and hickory,
Blackberries ripen, cobwebs form in the shrubs,

Blue jays grow drowsy. Living in his dream,
Having escaped his relatives, a fisherman—

All above water is gauze, hotly in touch,
A late Monet, a Bach

Chorale, a woman peeling oranges—
Only the cold trout must elude the dream.

Below his boat in the brown flood, pure muscle
They glide along as if he does not exist,

Like courteous phrases in a dead language.
Their glassy eyes look past each other hopeless.

It is as the fisherman wishes. He casts
His line again and again in the heavy heat.

III. Laǐs to Aphrodite

They call you the laughing one
Aphrodite, honey woman

I suppose because you laugh when our hearts crack
like red eggs and we want to die

but you keep us on our knees, hoping, trying—
well I am hurt and angry, you are aware

I have adored you all my life
sometimes lounging in fur and kohl

sometimes as a beggarly hag
for I recognized you in that poor disguise

and when the clock threw her arms in the air
and I threw my legs around the moon

you climbed inside me like the surge of a wave
I could ride, I could sail, and anyone I kissed

I was kissing you—whom I fear
I will never see again, never

kiss again

credits

from Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) 2019 - Composers Forum I, released October 8, 2019

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The Walden School Dublin, New Hampshire

Founded in 1972, the Walden School is an acclaimed summer music school and festival, offering programs that emphasize creativity through musicianship, improvisation, and composition. Our programs include the Young Musicians Program (9-18) and the Creative Musicians Retreat (18+). Set in beautiful New Hampshire, Walden provides an inspiring retreat-like environment ideal for creative music making. ... more

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