2021 . for high voice, B-flat clarinet, and piano . 7 minutes
Winner of the 2022 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award . Winner of the 2024 SOLI Chamber Ensemble’s 30x30x30 Project . This commission was made possible by the Steven R. Gerber Trust .
Stretch marks are part of life. They happen when a body expands rapidly, whether from puberty, weight gain, or pregnancy. This piece uses intimate timbres to imitate the speaker’s journey over their own body. The stretch marks are part of the music, weaving melodic lines that expand and contract, rippling across the temporal “body” of the piece. Body positivity is a good thing, but I sometimes find myself falling into a trap of inauthentic self-love. Working to accept flaws is good, but gaslighting oneself into believing feelings of inadequacy don’t exist is dangerous. Sometimes I cry, and that isn’t a moral failing.
Text by Lucy Shirley
I try to love the stretch marks on my thighs.
I trace my fingers along the winding paths etched in my skin.
I follow the memories they hold: the living, the growing the thriving.
Sometimes I love the tiger stripes they paint, as if I am a warrior preparing for battle.
I push at these rivulets of broken skin, watching them fold and expand, translucent in the light.
I stare and I strive to love these fissures in my flesh.
But sometimes—sometimes I cry.
LUCY SHIRLEY 