A story of longing arranged into a bed of radishes and flowers. It begins at rest and then erupts.

This is the title track of the album and (most days) it's my favorite track.

This came from a lesser known Stevens poem from Harmonium, but still one of my favorites. It’s lyrical and lovely and a bit more personal than some of his other works. It took a long time to find an arrangement of this that felt right and true. It turned out to be a very emotional experience for me to pull this one together.

"Cy Est Pourtraicte, Madame Ste Ursule, et Les Unze Mille Vierges" by Wallace Stevens

Ursula, in a garden, found
A bed of radishes.
She knelt upon the ground
And gathered round,
The flowers blue, gold, and green.

She dressed in red and gold brocade
And in the grass an offering made
Of radishes and flowers.

She said, "My dear,
Upon your altar,
I have placed
The marguerite and coquelicot,
And roses
Frail as April snow;
"Where none can see,
I make an offering,
Of radishes and flowers."

And then she wept
For fear the Lord would not accept.

released January 24, 2020
Musicians: Jesse Blake Rundle - Vocals, Guitars, Piano. Nate Agenbroad - Drums, Upright Bass.
Engineering: Nate Agenbroad at Mixed Metaphor Studios
Mastering: Gus Elg at Sky Onion

About the ending:
My sister and brother-in-law have a basement speakeasy lined with books of poetry. There's a tradition of picking a poem at random, reading it aloud to the group, and then beginning a short, tongue-in-cheek exposition by saying “Clearly, this poem”… as if we knew what the poem was about. Sometimes we uncover some layers together, or while we're speaking we stumble into some other idea that’s interesting and new. That's one reason why I like poetry - it inspires new ideas.

At the end of this song, after going into the world of this poem created by Wallace Stevens, I stopped singing and responded with music that’s my own “Clearly” statement.