The Flowers of Reminding

The poems that comprise The Flowers of Reminding are taken from e e cummings’ “Five Poems.” The three selected here all deal with death in its different guises. The first movement considers the life and death of the day as a metaphor for a human lifespan. The second movement, “The Gate” presents a fantastic, apocalyptic vision of death as a frozen moment in time. Finally, “The Baloonman” tells of an unsettling Pied Piper character who ensnares children and kills the innocence of childhood. While much of cummings’ poetry is fanciful, stylized, and humorous, these poems each betray elements of foreboding that lie just below the surface.

Premiere:  September 6, 2019; Columbia, SC.  Hannah Thompson, soprano; Avery Dabe, Bassoon; Grace Shepard, piano.  Sound engineering and mixing by Graeme Rosner. Written for “An Evening of Serious Whimsy” at the Columbia Museum of Art.