a fact of ours

for mixed quartet

2025
Commissioned by Fonema Consort for the Ear Taxi Festival 2025

ANY DAY NOW

Come now,
the forearm
laid atop the rib cage
with an upwards diagonal
slant, leading fingers
to a soft position above
the protected heart

Now, the heat
of contact, it brings
a soft floe of sweat
to trickle across the soft
tissue of the breast, downward
off the skin
to the linen sheet below

Now will collect
a polite winter
puddle to turn
to ice—

Yes, fact
of sensation,
turn, now—
that soft floe
of sweat
traveling
his arm, now’s
a fact
of ours, our shared
heat

-Imani Elizabeth Jackson

Premiered at Ear Taxi Festival 2025. Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University, Chicago IL. October 12th.

Nathalie Colas, soprano
Dalia Chin, flute
Emily Beisel, clarinets
Joe Bauer, double bass