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overlapping accelerandos set against
antiphonal brass climaxed by strings
in their highest registers hysterical
repeated sounds that reveal gradual
diminuendos at odds with screams
dissolving into eulogy interspersed
with tolling chimes the recapitulated
Domine Deus noster, Misere nobis
sounding a cappella in a choral round
Timothy Liu is author of eight books of poems, most recently Bending the Mind Around the Dream’s Blown Fuse.
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