The composer has long wanted to use this poem as a basis for a composition; its form also guides the form of the piece that is in five general sections of varying tempi. It is dedicated to the memory of the victims and to the hopes of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
SUSPENDED
The sky is afire-- Flames leap upward From horizon to horizon. The roar seems beyond bearing As the holocaust hangs suspended.
The snow covers the red earth With searing embers flying Before the ferocious winds.
Flames like the purple Mountains encased in black shadows.
Like those shadows Which lie between The spoken word And silence.
