Dredged Archipelago

Dredged Archipelago was written during my residency at The Hermitage Artist Retreat in Englewood, Florida, where I spent my first days swimming in the Gulf and reading. While revisiting some of Nathaniel Mackey’s early poems, I stumbled upon some lines from the Song of the Andoumboulou that resonated with my own sense of wonder my experience of dislocation in Florida. “Fell asleep underwater it felt like…/Phantom ledge, faint bodiless drop/Drawn up, dredged archipelago.” Springing out of these words, Dredged Archipelago then evolved to reflect my increasing anxiety related to climate change, which I felt by the beach more acutely than ever. The string ensemble navigates torpid and agitated textures that explore the wide range of nature’s forces.