Adagio for Tuba

a prayer for the Everglades

Prayer comes in many forms. It can be sung, spoken, danced, or played on a tuba. I am at the Kissimmee river, the head waters of the Everglades. I play the tuba, a more versatile instrument than you might imagine. It's great for marches, polkas but can play jazz and classical.
I am here at the river to play my adagio for tuba: slow, sonorous, deep melancholic notes. This is my prayer to Amma. She is the spirit of the River of Grass. Amma is a voivre, a mythopoetic creature embodying the telluric currents beneath the Everglades. I sound a low B flat. It is a note that arouses alligators, a note that pervades black holes. I sound a prayer of protection for the swamps. I sound a prayer of healing for the waters. Water is life. This is my prayer.