As Laura Foley's poem “Like Something Newly Freed” progresses, we shift from observing blackbirds at sunset to narrating from their perspective, as we imagine ourselves among them and desire their unencumbered flight and freedom in our own lives. This setting of Foley's text attempts to capture those sensations of ever-increasing immersion and momentum in music, particularly in moments like “the lightness of a song” and “gaining on the sun.”

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Like Something Newly Freed was commissioned by California ACDA for the 2017 California All-State Mixed Honor Choir (Dr. Amanda Quist, Conductor).

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Purchase this piece for performance through Graphite Marketplace.

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LIKE SOMETHING NEWLY FREED

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When you watch blackbirds flocking

in silhouette
against bare trees, against
a salmon sky, you wonder

at the sight, at the lift

you feel inside, the wings

and all that space.

As night begins,
you raise black wings
like leaves, like the lightness of a song.

As night hurries in,
you streak across the darkening sky

like something newly freed
and gaining, gaining on the sun.

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—Laura Foley