1. |
Introduction
03:47
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2. |
Pollen
05:31
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Pollen
by Sandra Marchetti
Droplets. Clumping molecules.
Leaves' breaths
on the backs of cars
that only through water were—
and then were only ever
particular ghosts—
a neon peridot.
The pollen falls around,
pushes back
through nostrils,
sifts in lashes,
lands in beds
under eyelids.
We pull our eyelids
at their sheeted corners,
as if to press the eye all the more
toward the bloom,
the dusty after-center of nature's
first derivation.
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3. |
Conversation 1
04:02
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4. |
Boil it Down!
05:02
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Render, Render
by Thomas Lux
Boil it down: feet, skin, gristle,
bones, vertebrae, heart muscle, boil
it down, skim, and boil
again, dreams, history, add them and boil
again, boil and skim
in closed cauldrons, boil your horse, his hooves,
the runned-over dog you loved, the girl
by the pencil sharpener
who looked at you, looked away,
boil that for hours, render it
down, take more from the top as more settles to the bottom,
the heavier, the denser, throw in ache
and sperm, and a bead
of sweat that slid from your armpit to your waist
as you sat stiff-backed before a test, turn up
the fire, boil and skim, boil
some more, add a fever
and the virus that blinded an eye, now’s the time
to add guilt and fear, throw
logs on the fire, coal, gasoline, throw
two goldfish in the pot (their swim bladders
used for “clearing”), boil and boil, render
it down and distill,
concentrate
that for which there is no
other use at all, boil it down, down,
then stir it with rosewater, that
which is now one dense, fatty, scented red essence
which you smear on your lips
and go forth
to plant as many kisses upon the world
as the world can bear!
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5. |
Conversation 2
02:24
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6. |
Be Not Afeard
03:31
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The Tempest Act III Scene II
by William Shakespeare
CALIBAN:
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
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7. |
The Call of Spring
04:25
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Monadnock in Early Spring
by Amy Lowell
Cloud-topped and splendid, dominating all
The little lesser hills which compass thee,
Thou standest, bright with April’s buoyancy,
Yet holding Winter in some shaded wall
Of stern, steep rock; and startled by the call
Of Spring, thy trees flush with expectancy
And cast a cloud of crimson, silently,
Above thy snowy crevices where fall
Pale shrivelled oak leaves, while the snow beneath
Melts at their phantom touch. Another year
Is quick with import. Such each year has been.
Unmoved thou watchest all, and all bequeath
Some jewel to thy diadem of power,
Thou pledge of greater majesty unseen.
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8. |
Conversation 3
00:45
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9. |
Conversation 4
06:23
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10. |
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11. |
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12. |
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13. |
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14. |
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Michael Maiorana Minneapolis, Minnesota
Michael Maiorana is a composer living in Minneapolis. After graduating from Grinnell College, he studied composition and counterpoint at the European American Musical Alliance in Paris. Recent projects include a choral setting of a speech by WPA director Harry Hopkins, a set of wind quintet pieces inspired by paintings of trees, and a set of short pieces for bass guitar, loop pedal, and video. ... more
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