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Love Song for the Lesser Parts | 5'
SATB Chorus & Piano

purchase link coming soon

Similar to Learning to Breathe:

The Whole Sea in Motion

Between Water and Air

I wrote the first draft of the poem that would become Love Song for the Lesser Parts in 2008, before I’d been in a lasting relationship. The poem uses playful, florid language to speculate how long-term partners might admire each other after so many years together. In this musical setting, each compliment is delivered with embellished counterpoint or a rhythmic flourish. Now that I’ve been in a relationship for over a decade, I know the sentiment of the poem—if not the flowery language!—does ring true.

Love Song for the Lesser Parts was commissioned by Kirkland Choral Society (Glenn Gregg, Artistic Director).

This score will soon be available for purchase through Graphite Marketplace. Request a perusal score here.

text

LOVE SONG FOR THE LESSER PARTS
 

We must’ve known it was nothing
to have dried our hands, our lips
on words so ragged, words worn through

and through: Oh, the curve of your hip.
The base of your spine. Your neck, the nape—

like we’d never seen a body before. No,

true-time lovers say: I seek again
the scar between your third and fourth left toes,

which I have found on several occasions.
I’ll draw a map whose long-sought gold
is each freckle you're scared might be someday

melanoma, your twin moles like binary stars.

I’ll write a symphony dedicated to the dent

below your right knee—it’ll feature
the violas. I’ll take you out for Thai food
at your favorite place, the expensive one,
and I will do the dishes for one week,

if you can find one unloved inch

on the anywhere of you.

—Dale Trumbore


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