See/Hear

Micah Fletcher

On May 26, 2017, three passengers on Portland's MAX train approached Jeremy Christian, a white nationalist who was verbally assaulting two Muslim women. The knife-wielding Christian brutally assaulted and killed Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Rick Best, and critically injuring Micah Fletcher. This attack set off shock waves across the country, perpetrated by an attacker who later claimed to be “agitated by the political polarization in the country.” Mr. Fletcher has received wide acclaim for his poetry, which describes his harrowing journey to recover from this assault.

Bonnie Miksch

Bonnie Miksch is a composer who writes both acoustic and electroacoustic works. Her music explores the distinctly human realms of emotions, dreams, and states of consciousness, and combines diverse elements with an ear for coherence. Her music has been performed in Asia, Europe, Canada, and throughout the U.S. She has received commissions from the Meet the Composer, The Fireworks Ensemble, Beta Collide, and The Oregon Music Teacher’s Association who awarded her “Oregon’s Composer of the Year” in 2011. Her works have also been performed by FearNoMusic, Third Angle Ensemble, newEar, and the Portland Vocal Consort, and presented at international, national, and regional venues including ICMC (China, Greece, Singapore, Denmark), The International Contemporary Music Festival (Korea), SEAMUS, the Third Practice Electroacoustic Festival, the Society for New Music, the New World Arts Electrocoustic Festival, Electrogals, and Cascadia Composers. Her music is available on the North Pacific Music and Aca Digital labels. With degrees from CCM at the University of Cincinnati and Syracuse University, she serves as the Coordinator of Composition Studies at Portland State University, where she has taught music theory, composition,and computer music since 2004.

“I found this flower” is based on the strength of love and resilience that Micah Fletcher speaks about in his poem “Silence.” “Beneath all of the agony,” he finds a flower. In my reading of this poem, the flower represents the inner core of love and strength that people find in troubling times. When tragedies happen in the world, there is always evidence of love, generosity, compassion, and resilience. It seems that these human gifts respond to the darkness, but if we look a little closer, we see that they are always there within us waiting for the right moments to bloom. The musical journey of the string quartet is one of blossoming and an exploration of unabashed beauty. Continuity is created by connection between moments which blossom forth into new moments. There is no resolution to the piece, much as there is no resolution to tragedy. Rather the constant of love within each of us flows forth, and with each new blossoming of our hearts, we return to ourselves. This is the gift of the flower.