This song                        Where did I read our bodies are completely replaced
our cells sing.                      once every seven years? Cell of stone, cell of water,
John Cage asks                          cells born to carry this very thought. That man
you to hold a radio.                          I am not now. I am audience to a long-lost
You think you are only                 composition. The voices John Cage captures     
this quiet spectator, but                        are a symphony breathed from the air
your very presence (Cage                            of any moment. I stand beside my
experiments) is a symphony                            former body who stands beside
composing itself. That's where                                himself and so on. We each
the radio comes in. There's no                               carry this radio in one hand,
such thing as silence. John Cage                               a microphone in the other.
walks through the crowd recording                               Cell of song, cell of sight,
found sound. Everyone in the theater                         whose static voice is this,
is holding up a radio tuned to a different                     whose subtle ear? Once
station. There's never such a thing as silence.                  every seven years we
The air contains every note our cells might sing.                 completely replace
Someone inside your radio is talking to someone                      this symphony
else. The composer is the only audience member.                             with itself.

__

This piece is intended to be performed by two pianists, one present, the other still arriving. Earlier drafts included a bright white computer screen.