Here and Singing

2020 . for two high voices and piano . 8’45 .

Text by Brooklyn Raines

I. The Father of your Child text from the poem “The Father of your Child” by Brooklyn Raines

Brown eyed girl, so young so lost pretty little thing you are with you petite frame and big heart. You just want to fit in girl. Go ahead and take a shot or two, no one’s counting except that older guy who yearns to turn you out. He’s been watching you all night- you with sparkling lips and pigmented eyelids. Outside the party, you take a hit of his blunt. Your lungs burn, but everyone laughs because you’re newly acquainted with the color green. You get away from the commotion and now you’re alone with him in another girl’s room. You aren’t used to full lips on the nape of your neck- you could get used to a warm caress- you welcome his intense gaze.

II. Broken Man Bop text from the poem “Parasitism” by Brooklyn Raines

I love a broken man, I scamper at the chance to fill the holes of his soul with my love until they swell and suffocate him to death.

III. The Night I Bloomed in Your Arms text from the poem “Artists” by Brooklyn Raines

I hope the night we created baby Landon was the night you held me tight to your body, when those deep pitch-black eyes burned two holes in my temple the night I bloomed in your arms.