The act of blushing is defined as a reddening of one’s face normally due to embarrassment or shame. During puberty, many adolescents experience more frequent blushing for physiological and social reasons. Becoming a woman is a beautiful yet especially emotionally difficult experience. Young women often fear their changing bodies and minds, alarmed by their new curves, feelings, and desires. Even though they are fundamentally the same people now as they were before, everything feels radically different, and this process may feel like an out-of- body experience. Societal pressures can exacerbate these feelings of anxiety and shame, causing young women to “blush” at themselves while navigating the transition to womanhood. Learning to love your own mind and body is not easy. But realizing your inherent strength and remarkableness is a first step. Because being a woman is not something to be ashamed of – it’s something to revere.
Many thanks to conductor Harold Rosenbaum, The New York Virtuoso Singers, and the ASCAP Foundation for commissioning this piece.
look away
from the monster
in the mirror
I don’t know
her painted lips
mascara smeared
across her cheeks
look away from
the mask they’ve made
I blush and
wear my ugly
and cry
what have I become?
I don’t know my new skin
I’ve molted my youth
I bloom
my curves
molded like clay
I don’t know this mind
I don’t know this heart
I breathe the same breath
but fire fills my lungs
I stand proud
a queen
here I bleed
I bleed all my love
as future life
drips to my feet
I wax and wane
like the moon
I hold my strength
in my hips
I hold my warmth
in my breast
what a gift this life is
look into my eyes
here stands a woman
Performed live by The New York Virtuoso Singers
Harold Rosenbaum, conductor; Aine Hakamatsuka, soprano soloist
New York, NY
October 27th, 2018
October 27th, 2018
The New York Virtuoso Singers:
ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Commissions Concert
Advent Lutheran Church (Broadway at 93rd Street)
New York, New York
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Student/Senior (purchase tickets here)
