Release. Allow escape from confinement; set free. To quote Indian novelist Arundhati Roy in her article “The Pandemic is a Portal”:   “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew…We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data…

I wrote “Reverence” several years ago to commemorate the aftermath of a fire that gutted the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Given our current tragic loss and a longing for what was, the piece has just as much significance for me today. Our lives have been ravaged by a viral fire, one that…

During this extended time of COVID we find ways to quiet our mind, settle our heart, leave the day behind. Like snow falling in the woods, a gentle hiss as flakes land on pines, trickle down through branches, set underfoot. We do what we can. Take a moment to breathe deep the solace of the…

“This Way Now” seems appropriate at this juncture in the pandemic. It has no melody, just chordal progressions with 4ths and 5ths lingering in the decay of the instrument voices. For me, the lack of melody speaks to an imbalance between darkness and light, anxiety and hope. Even with the promising vaccines on the horizons…