Four Poems by Joy Kogawa (2025)
SATB choir, 2 percussionists; 4 movements; ca. 12 min.
The composer writes: Joy Kogawa is a Canadian writer, best known for her novel Obasan. Throughout her career, she has published numerous collections of poems, many of which appear in her 2023 anthology, From the lost and found department.
Score and parts available from:
TEXTS
I. In the Almost Evening
In the almost evening loneliest time of day
I looked out the window and could see sky
and I said “Sky, what can you give me?”
and sky said, “I can give you sunset.” So I
looked at sunset with moon and star
and said “Sunset, what can you give me?”
and sunset said, “We can give you skyline.”
And I looked at skyline with bright lights
and I said “What can you give me” and
skyline said “We’ll give you people” and
I said to people, “People, give me love.”
And people said, “Too busy.”
So in the almost evening loneliest time of day
I took to listening feverishly.
II: Grief Poem
O that after all no
thought breaks
the mind's cold spell.
Chilled these bones their
language lost.
In this fresh silence
weather hides all
odours of decay.
By freezing time
I travel through
this numb day.
Look look
my small
my beautiful child.
The icicle here
how it shimmers
in the blue sun
My small
my beautiful child
look once more.
III: Where There’s a Wall
Where there’s a wall
there’s a way through a
gate or door. There’s even
a ladder perhaps and a
sentinel who sometimes sleeps.
There are secret passwords you
can overhear. There are methods
of torture for extracting clues
to maps of underground passages.
There are zeppelins, helicopters,
rockets, bombs, battering rams,
armies with trumpets whose
all at once blast shatters
the foundations.
Where there’s a wall there are
words to whisper by loose bricks,
wailing prayers to utter, birds
to carry messages taped to their feet.
There are letters to be written --
poems even.
Faint as in a dream
is the voice that calls
from the belly
of the wall.
IV: In the Valley of the Blind
No one can look
at the sun without filters.
In the valley of the blind
the sighted must submit.
© Joy Kogawa
The composer writes: Joy Kogawa is a Canadian writer, best known for her novel Obasan. Throughout her career, she has published numerous collections of poems, many of which appear in her 2023 anthology, From the lost and found department.
Score and parts available from:
- Canadian Music Centre
TEXTS
I. In the Almost Evening
In the almost evening loneliest time of day
I looked out the window and could see sky
and I said “Sky, what can you give me?”
and sky said, “I can give you sunset.” So I
looked at sunset with moon and star
and said “Sunset, what can you give me?”
and sunset said, “We can give you skyline.”
And I looked at skyline with bright lights
and I said “What can you give me” and
skyline said “We’ll give you people” and
I said to people, “People, give me love.”
And people said, “Too busy.”
So in the almost evening loneliest time of day
I took to listening feverishly.
II: Grief Poem
O that after all no
thought breaks
the mind's cold spell.
Chilled these bones their
language lost.
In this fresh silence
weather hides all
odours of decay.
By freezing time
I travel through
this numb day.
Look look
my small
my beautiful child.
The icicle here
how it shimmers
in the blue sun
My small
my beautiful child
look once more.
III: Where There’s a Wall
Where there’s a wall
there’s a way through a
gate or door. There’s even
a ladder perhaps and a
sentinel who sometimes sleeps.
There are secret passwords you
can overhear. There are methods
of torture for extracting clues
to maps of underground passages.
There are zeppelins, helicopters,
rockets, bombs, battering rams,
armies with trumpets whose
all at once blast shatters
the foundations.
Where there’s a wall there are
words to whisper by loose bricks,
wailing prayers to utter, birds
to carry messages taped to their feet.
There are letters to be written --
poems even.
Faint as in a dream
is the voice that calls
from the belly
of the wall.
IV: In the Valley of the Blind
No one can look
at the sun without filters.
In the valley of the blind
the sighted must submit.
© Joy Kogawa
