"From Seed to Bud"
David Huang Mailman (2025)
Librettist.
Premiered on 28 November 2023 at Vanderbilt University Blair School's "Living Sounds" concert.
The first of hopefully many collaborations with Composer David Huang Mailman. The recording features Syd Braustein, soprano and pianist Emma Chang. Full score accesible here.
from seed to bud : Couch (2021)
i find that
time passes
faster than
photons firing
synapses firing
a blood bent heartbeat rushing to my head
so
quick love,
hold me in your arms
hold you in my mind
and together cultivate
from seed to bud
from branch to flower blooming
a soon fruit love
such fickle foolish futile fruit -- are we not born to rot?
you see it in the way bark withers
bones fail
each passing year, a ring upon the last
until the spoiled yield litters
the sepulcher earth
for
why love,
do we let our gardens grow in
unfettered optimism
sustained with
unbound warmth and
endless sunshine
not optimism but --
life
life love.
a
light love,
like the clementine rots
and orange blossom wilts
a blessing of memory.