Four Poems of Nikita Gill

Poems about healing and female empowerment by Nikita Gill create the lyrics in this cycle, which contains three songs for solo soprano, and a fourth song for unaccompanied soprano trio, written originally for undergraduate vocal majors. British-Indian Sikh author Nikita Gill's writing often draws on her experiences as a woman of color, exploring themes such as trauma recovery, mental illness, feminism, and identity. By chance, each of the poems chosen uses a different pronoun perspective. "Sorcery" is in first person and is an affirmation of self-acceptance and the importance of self care; a mysterious melodic line in the piano becomes sly and knowing as a spell of healing is cast. "From the Ashes She Became" is in third person and tells the phoenix-like story of a woman turning pain and exhaustion into strength, using imagery of rushing water and the desolate desert. "You Have Become a Forest" is in second person and offers words of comfort and a celebration of growth to a Sondheim-esque melody, perhaps sung to a younger version of oneself. Finally, the protest anthem "Me Too" uses plural voice and is woven into a canon, representing women's individual voices joined together in solidarity and mutual empowerment.