how small a part of time

how small a part of time, Eric Nathan (2016) 6'for sixteen voices - SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB The text for my choral work, “how small a part of time,” is an original poem that I created entirely from the titles I found in a single drawer in the card catalogue of the Providence Athenaeum, which all begin with the word, “how.” As I read through these titles, each of which is either handwritten or typewritten, I was struck by the beauty created by their random juxtaposition as well as their unique visual identity. Taken purely as grammatical fragments and disassociated from the books that they refer to, each title either poses a question or gives the answer to a question left unasked. These questions and answers initially seem to point our thoughts in distinct but disparate directions, but as a totality they ask and speak of deeper things – of the passage of time and of life itself. I think of this poem as a found object, one that was laying in the catalogue awaiting discovery. “how small a part o