Word of the Day (2015)

Download the score – Word of the Day

Range: B-flat 3 – F5

“Orbs (Word of the Day)”

I tear off yesterday
and see orbicular,
circle pressed,

orbicularis oris kiss
of wind into the flute.
Spread your lips along

the silver tube as we once
blew over curved green glass
of bottled coke, foghorn

low. Or pucker a whistle,
trill it down my ear canal
until the drum rings

like a gong. Round
your lips into an O
till they meet mine

and lose their shape
like the wobbly bubbles
we blew from a loop

bouncing against
each other, yielding,
melding, until they popped.

– Joanna White



About Me

Jay C. Batzner (b. 1974) is currently on the faculty of Central Michigan University. He reads too many comic books and tries to find time for sewing and other various hobbies. Jay likes playing chess but loses a LOT of games. 

Jay’s frequent interdisciplinary collaborations with choreographer Heather Trommer-Beardslee has led to several dance works based on student veterans, ecological succession, the Larry Craig scandal, and hyena behaviors. The hyena piece even includes puppets! 

80s atonal awesome bilston comic books comics concerto contemplative counterpoint duet dulcimer duo electronics fixed media funny hard high voice improvisation marimba medium voice noisy percussion piano poem poetry pop quartet sci-fi scifi setup short song song cycle speaking spiky spoken strugatsky timpani trigger triggered trio unpitched weird white zen

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