FOCM’s Poet Laureate

Friends of Chamber Music was proud to announce the appointment of Margaret Chula as its first Poet Laureate in the 2010-11 season. Ms. Chula is charged with creating original poems following each of the concerts in the Classic Series, as well as poems after select Not So Classic and Vocal Arts Series concerts. The poems are posted on the Friends of Chamber Music website and Facebook page, and appear in print in program books throughout the season.

Ms. Chula’s poems capture the essence of the concert in some way, but each poem has a different focus. We think you’ll find that the rhythm of words is not unlike the rhythm of music and we hope to enhance the listener’s experience in a novel and interesting way by combining these two wonderful art forms.

Read Ms. Chula’s poems inspired by concerts in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

More about Margaret Chula.

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Inspired by the Altenberg Trio’s performance of
Beethoven’s Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, “The Ghost” on April 5, 2011

A soft rain falls on the bluebells.
They accept it without a sound,
just a slight trembling with the filling.

Inside, the count reclines on a settee
his glass full of sherry. His mind
brimming with ideas and words.
Who can take all this abundance?

We envy the cacti with stems to store
a surfeit of water, the camel with his
reserve hump, the bluebells that swallow
the blessing from above without remorse.