I’ll Tell You A Story, then…
A mysterious scent leads to a discovery about being fully human
Music: Elizabeth Alexander
Words: Nancy White
In Nancy White’s compelling poem, “Just Once I Want to Write a Gentle Thing,” the search for an elusive scent leads to a new understanding of what it means to be fully human. This intimate setting of White’s poem, I’ll Tell You a Story, then…, brings tenderness, earthiness, and emotional depth to this pursuit — as well as to its surprising revelation.
I’ll Tell You a Story, then… is included in the collection A Love Like That: Songs of Unconditional Love, as well as the extended song cycle Nature Creature.
“The second half opened with just [Ruth] MacKenzie and [Dan] Chouinard at piano for a tender treatment of the Nancy White / Elizabeth Alexander ballad I’ll Tell You a Story, then… One can’t help but be transported by the exquisite poetry…and how MacKenzie so passionately delivered such a nuanced performance, filled with soaring vocals and gestures of awakened discovery.” Michael Reinbold, Saint Joan of Arc Newsletter (Minneapolis, MN)
Details and Ordering Information
Composer Notes
Nancy White’s warm and earthy poem “Just Once I Want to Write a Gentle Thing” invites the reader to embrace every aspect of one’s being. Following the poet’s lead, I thought deeply about what each of the poem’s vivid smells might sound like. This sensory exploration helped me express the vulnerability in Nancy’s dark and tender poem.
I wrote I’ll Tell You a Story, then… especially for vocalist Ruth MacKenzie, whose fully embodied style brought passion, sensuality, and freedom to this intimate story. I eventually developed the song into Nature Creature, an extended work for voice, piano, and optional cello that revels in the beauty and complexity of being alive.
Just Once I Want to Write a Gentle Thing
I’ll tell you a story, then,
of how as I was walking, I smelled something sugary,
elusive, spicy, you could call it,
and smoky in a sad sort of way. Also
like blossom barely born, pale and half-undone
to the wind that still might even be carrying snow.
this scent I decided to follow.
Sometimes I stumbled on the path, silver
with stones worn smooth as kindness,
or had to stop and rest among pines
where the smell settled a little, at home
with their religious and sensuous twang. Other times,
I moved fast, snatching at its mulchy sweet threads
through the air, the leaf and rotten-meat ribbons of scent,
rough tongues of tigers who have recently feasted, the living decay
of happiness, and saddle soap, the lemon urgency of sex,
honey of the air — where did it come from?
I rose panting up the slope, muscles strung on the searching
bow of my body, raised the back of my hand
to wipe away the sweat
salting my lips
and realized the smell —
the smell is me.
Nancy White
© 1992 by Nancy White. From “Sun, Moon, Salt,” published by The Word Works
Performers
Premiere: Ruth MacKenzie and Elizabeth Alexander (St. Paul, MN)
Beena David. First Unitarian Church of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
Ben Caswell, Jingqi Zhu. University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
Christina Baldwin. MacPhail Center for Music (Minneapolis, MN)
Elisabeth Harrington. UUMN National Conference (Madison, WI)
Harriet McCleary, Pam Soriakoff. Hennepin Avenue Methodist (Minneapolis, MN)
Harriet McCleary, Ruth Palmer. Bloomington Arts Center (Bloomington, MN)
Maurice Fields. University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana, IL)
Ruth MacKenzie, Dan Chouinard. St Joan of Ark. (Minneapolis, MN)
Ruth MacKenzie, Elizabeth Alexander. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
Ruth MacKenzie, Jacqueline Ultan, Elizabeth Alexander. Open Eye Figure Theatre (Minneapolis, MN)
Ruth MacKenzie, Jacqueline Ultan, Elizabeth Alexander. Studio Z (St. Paul, MN)
