Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Jennifer Langridge - Cello
Tim Williams - Percussion
Julian Gregory - Session Producer
Leighton Moody - Director of Photography
Rob Kelledy - Sound recording and Mastering
Tim Williams - Editor
--------
My piece carved by birds and blizzards was inspired by a poem I wrote towards the end of 2021. The text reads as follows:
a gate inhales my shadow,
shadow forms a scab of darkness to be pealed by a talon of dawn -
and I watch my own wake
ripening.
still, the sun swells,
brimming with a snow-cloud:
the air grows heavy
with a blizzard’s ashes.
where ashes strike, scar’s blossom,
a bright eclipse of birds
surfacing like pollen,
bursting from me, then so close I feel their wings,
bright birds rifling through the inky air,
then breathed in by distance.
for air is carved
like cliffs and stories:
carved by birds and blizzards.
my blazing body leaps,
wishing to be swallowed by the moon.
sullen streetlights darken
as the moon drowns,
suckling the sun
with a nectar of light.
at last,
the cloud of birds engulfs the moon.
in the sun’s throat,
I hear one last blizzard burst.
Follow Xia on Twitter: twitter.com/xialeonsloane
------
LEARN MORE AND FOLLOW PSAPPHA
Website: psappha.com
Subscribe to Psappha's Enewsletter: shorturl.at/ryFGO Twitter: twitter.com/PsapphaEnsemble Facebook: facebook.com/psappha.ensemble Instagram: instagram.com/psapphaensemble
-----
Psappha is grateful for the support its ‘Composing For…’ programme receives from: Arts Council England; PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme; Fidelio Charitable Trust; RVW Trust; and the Granada Foundation.
Jennifer Langridge - Cello
Tim Williams - Percussion
Julian Gregory - Session Producer
Leighton Moody - Director of Photography
Rob Kelledy - Sound recording and Mastering
Tim Williams - Editor
--------
My piece carved by birds and blizzards was inspired by a poem I wrote towards the end of 2021. The text reads as follows:
a gate inhales my shadow,
shadow forms a scab of darkness to be pealed by a talon of dawn -
and I watch my own wake
ripening.
still, the sun swells,
brimming with a snow-cloud:
the air grows heavy
with a blizzard’s ashes.
where ashes strike, scar’s blossom,
a bright eclipse of birds
surfacing like pollen,
bursting from me, then so close I feel their wings,
bright birds rifling through the inky air,
then breathed in by distance.
for air is carved
like cliffs and stories:
carved by birds and blizzards.
my blazing body leaps,
wishing to be swallowed by the moon.
sullen streetlights darken
as the moon drowns,
suckling the sun
with a nectar of light.
at last,
the cloud of birds engulfs the moon.
in the sun’s throat,
I hear one last blizzard burst.
Follow Xia on Twitter: twitter.com/xialeonsloane
------
LEARN MORE AND FOLLOW PSAPPHA
Website: psappha.com
Subscribe to Psappha's Enewsletter: shorturl.at/ryFGO Twitter: twitter.com/PsapphaEnsemble Facebook: facebook.com/psappha.ensemble Instagram: instagram.com/psapphaensemble
-----
Psappha is grateful for the support its ‘Composing For…’ programme receives from: Arts Council England; PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme; Fidelio Charitable Trust; RVW Trust; and the Granada Foundation.
