For Full Poem: click here.

Purchase: Score+parts available at American Composers Alliance

Program Note:
“Breaking Point”
I have been asking myself these questions of who I am
As a person,
As an individual
As an artist.
And asking, “What does it mean to become me?
And what does it mean to become ‘black’?
Because I’ve been black my entire life.”
Thinking myself an imposter in my own skin.
Tearing myself across the rigid
And the beautiful—
The harsh dissonance from my body
And the spiritual lyricism in my soul.
But I have decided not to limit myself—
To be part of one thing
And everything at the same time.
Because I am me,
I am me.
And I will not allow myself to retreat
Or shrink inside.
Because I have hit my breaking point—
No return.