“Star-Fish” from Fish

Program Notes

Star-Fish is the second movement in my treble chorus cycle, Fish, which was commissioned by Music Director Virginia Davidson and her renowned professional ensemble, the New York Treble Singers. With rich harmonies and languid chromatic vocal lines, underlined by pulsing multiphonics in the saxophone, I hope I’ve captured some of the poem’s imagery, quite erotic and just a little bit dangerous. 

“Star-Fish” from Fish
Eric Ormsby

The stellar sea crawler, maw
Concealed beneath, with offerings of
Prismed crimson now darkened, now like
The smile of slag, a thing made rosy
As poured ingots, or suddenly dimmed --

I appreciate the studious labour
Of your rednesses, the scholarly fragrance
Of your sex. To mirror tidal drifts|
The light ripples across or to enhance darkness
With palpable tinctures, dense as salt.

You crumple like a puppet's fist
Or erect, bristling, your tender luring barbs.
Casual abandon, like a dropped fawn glove.
Tensile symmetries, like a hawk's claw.

You clutch the seafloor.
You taste what has fallen.