I’m currently finishing up a new work titled Branches for the wonderful ensemble fivebyfive.
This piece is inspired by the quantum mechanics theory known as "many worlds," which suggests that each choice we make creates two new branches of reality happening simultaneously.
I decided to include a narrated poem in the composition, and asked Ashley to co-write it with me. We are both proud of how it turned out and I can't wait to hear the music and poem performed together.
🎵 🎵 You can hear a little midi sample here. 🔈 🎧
Check out the poem below:
Branches
There’s an old saying:
“Wisdom begins with wonder.”
As a child, playing
Outside, I found wonder—
In the bird song
filling the tree canopy,
like a forest cathedral,
In the scent of pine needles,
Brushing by,
In the clouds stretching
across a painted sky.
But wisdom, wisdom eluded me.
Perhaps it was hidden,
Tucked away out of sight.
Somewhere up high
Where birds and dreams take flight.
“I know just the place,”
I thought.
The path was worn and winding
From the house to the field.
Each step a step toward finding
Wisdom, to be revealed.
I paused at the edge,
Shielding my eyes from the sun.
A grove of trees in endless number,
But I could only choose one.
Further into the field,
The trees grew before me.
With rounded crown and slender arms,
Dressed in green and silver and brown.
With eyes to the sky,
Wandering,
Wondering,
Until I came upon one
With a curved limb,
Bowed low.
An invitation.
I paused to consider.
And then I began to climb.
At first, slowly,
Then more assured.
Each branch a choice,
A chance,
A change in perspective.
Every crack and creak
A call into question.
When I lost my footing,
I held on tight,
Cursed out of spite.
Looking out through the thick branches,
Wondering, would it be
Easier to climb a different tree?
I caught my breath.
Is that me?
In that other tree?
No, it couldn’t be.
And though my arms began to ache,
Still I climbed.
I had come this far
And yet the top still seemed
Beyond me.
The more I climbed,
The more I saw,
Leaving all the other trees behind
Until the wind whistled in my hair
And wonder filled my mind.
The landscape unfolded before me
Like a crinkled map.
The stream, a blue, wavy line,
The field, a small, golden gap,
Tucked in between velvety green.
Looking for wisdom
And finding none,
I began to climb down,
Branch by branch,
Step by step,
The way I had begun.
When I reached the ground,
I looked around
Confused, perplexed.
My tree stood alone
Where there once were many—
Where were the rest?
I regarded it now,
In this time and place:
Alive and magnificent,
In stature and grace.
A picture of strength,
Though only I knew,
The scars it shows,
The way it grew,
The cracks and groans,
As it became my own.