Paper Cranes
Wings made of paper,
wishes made of air
One sits by the window, so quiet
The world out there
Made of buses, made of clouds
Made of steel, made of cranes.
One sits by the window
Listens to the dreams
we dream, hears the hum
of each machine,
knows that
If you could see
the way my mind moves
You’d hear the music in me.
In my head, an endless number,
A bear with no name.
Some things will always be here
Do not need a name or end
Some things we’ll never
Ever understand.
Blue’s my favorite color
Ruby and Rose, my favorite names
The day after we’re born
Is when our real life begins.
How does the crane carry
my wish on its wings?
How does the star rising,
hold my handprint
In its blaze?
A thousand cranes tied together,
left hanging cloud to cloud,
until tattered by the breeze,
and when they are broken
our wish begins.
Twenty Questions
When you’re in a hospital bed
There’s not much to do
So you study the numbers,
follows the tubes,
ask yourself questions, like
Do elephants have belly buttons?
Do pandas like peanuts?
Do you think I’ll lose my smile,
when I’m a grown up?
The nurses keep going
home every day.
Just stay for one,
then a new one comes.
Twenty questions, it’s just a game
It says it can read my mind
But it doesn’t even know
what I’m talking about.
Don’t want to think about
all the things I’m missing,
all the time I’m spending here.
Don’t want to think, so instead
How many flavors of ice cream
Are there in the world?
What would a red whale look like,
in a red sea?
When you’re in a hospital bed
There’s not much to do
So you memorize your arm band,
the tune the I.V. sings.
Daddy ate a birthday candle
Just for fun.
Mom tells me she’s seen me
do the bravest things.
You ask me if it’s hard
to be here in this bed. I tell you
life is hard, no matter
where you’re living it.
I do know this
No game can prove me wrong
There is so much happy
and sad, so all of a sudden
& there isn’t anything
we wouldn’t do
for each other.
Before We Get Dusty
I wish I had some bubble wrap
To pop with my feet
Want to jump, poke holes in paper
When it’s you, visiting me.
Feeling shy and thank you
Did you know my insides glow?
I swim like a fish,
I dance like the wind
In the banana tree leaves.
I like pushing things
I like fighting and watching tv
I wish right now I was a bug
Climbing up your knee.
We’ll leave before we get dusty
We’ll run and climb every tree
Maybe tomorrow we’ll find some answers
Maybe we’ll all turn into bees.
I like to laugh and play with my grandpa,
I like ants in my p.j.s.
Do you wish you were a ball,
could roll and bounce off the
walls with me?
I wish I was a builder
I’d build a house we’d decorate
With books and tickets,
with money and dogs
With stickers and popsicle sticks.
On the ceiling we’ll find thoughts
Drifting and changing like the day,
We’ll lie on our backs and watch them
gather and carry our fears away.
We’ll leave before we get dusty
We’ll run and climb every tree
Maybe tomorrow we’ll find some answers
Maybe tomorrow we’ll leave.
Maybe tomorrow.
Maybe.
Where Beauty Comes From
Lying on our backs, somewhere
a guitar plays
we sing along, no words,
just a song all our own.
Sometimes the only thing moving
are your eyes,
blinking
to the beat of a drum.
What song do you see?
A darting bird? The sun’s hello?
Where beauty comes from?
We flicker like fireflies, we shine
Stars to guide us above,
we all want to matter, just want
To be loved.
Breathe in and hold it
breathe out and let it go
Sometimes we’ve got to improvise,
just sing a song all our own.
sometimes I’ve got to back away
sometimes I need to hear you say
this with me
sometimes my life’s
an uncertainty
but one day I’ll make all
the difference, you will see
in the world
you will see
close your eyes now, imagine
how this world could spin
open them and tell me
where beauty comes from
breathe in
and hold it
breathe out…
– All poems by Julia Klatt Singer
All rights reserved.
In 2010, poet Julia Klatt Singer and I were offered the opportunity to visit with the patients of Children’s Hospital of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Our task was to listen to their stories and turn them into music. As one reads the poems, the line between Julia’s poetic voice and the actual words and ideas of the children is wonderfully blurred. The poems are artfully cohesive, yet as I read them I can identify many different patients found hidden in the words.
Originally, the pieces were written for the Minnesota Boychoir, but I thought they would make a great art song cycle. I contacted soprano Courtney Huffman about singing the premiere, because I knew she would bring the right amount of character and emotional investment needed to perform these songs well.
In "Paper Cranes" we hear the repeating, incessant octaves in the piano, marking time. This motive appears throughout the cycle, reminding us that these patients are always waiting. In the hospital, we talked a lot about time – when a patient checked in, when they thought they’d leave, how much of their real life they were missing. There were also aspects of time throughout the environment – the measured noises of the machines, doctor visits every hour, the drip of an IV. One can feel the contrast between the intangible and the tangible: dreams and machines, ‘wishes made of air’ and "the world out there, made of steel, made of cranes." The word "cranes" has a dual meaning, and bridges the gap between the hospital and the outside world. It represents construction cranes outside the patients’ windows and also paper cranes hanging from the ceiling.
The text of "Twenty Questions" came mostly from two patients. One 10 yr. old girl was finding as many ways to pass the time as she could. As she’d go to sleep at night, she would think of questions. They were often silly, but sometimes poignant. She had memorized her ID band. She’d figure out where each cord and tube started and ended. Another young boy had the electronic game "20 Questions" and was trying to trick it. Musically, the difference between the silly and the poignant is marked by time signature and melodic character. The opening is in 5/4 and has the singer navigating a disjunct melody. Reality sets in with the text "don’t want to think about all the things I’m missing." The meter changes to less quirky 4/4 and the melody becomes more fluid, more plaintive.
"Before We Get Dusty" delves into the silly, capturing all the energy of one of the hospital’s activity rooms. Here, the children really get a chance to stretch their imaginations and bodies, and leave their room for a little while. Again, the sense of time is invoked, with a patient wanting to "leave before we get dusty." Almost every thought in this poem embodies action and strives to throw off the confines of the hospital. At the close of the piece, the opening octave strike motive comes back in the piano, reminding us that time is still passing, moving the patient closer to answers and possibly home.
The final song, "Where Beauty Comes From" is an anthem to the individuality of each patient in the hospital. "One day I’ll make all the difference in the world, you will see." Each of these children is beautiful. They are able to find hope in the most unusual places. They find healing in their families, in their friends, and in the music and dreams inside of them.
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