corner motel mercy (2024)
for soprano and piano, 6’
This work was written for the ‘between the lines’ initiative in February 2024. This piece uses the text ‘Corner Motel Mercy’ by Diepreye Amanah.
This piece is inspired by Diepreye's poem "Corner Motel Mercy", a plea from an older sibling to their sister to get their life together. With a father who recently passed and a grieving mother, the older sibling tries to get their younger sibling to snap out of there messy, sad ways and get them back on the right track. This text is a golden shovel poem, meaning the last word on each line forms a previous poem. The inspiration for this poem is "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams. In the music, I place an emphasis on each of these words, having the soprano elongate on each of these words in constrast to the fast moving music everywhere else.
Performances:
April 6, 2024, Nicole Knorr, Davis Reinhart, Stamps Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI
