Why Holy War Cannot Be Metaphor

Why Holy War Cannot Be Metaphor

Present Day, July 4, 2026Some listeners will hear Holy War and experience it as a historical document, a meditation on something that happened in other centuries to other people. I understand why. History provides distance. Distance provides comfort.I am writing this...
The Orchard Sleeps

The Orchard Sleeps

Present Day, May 2026The Orchard Sleeps is the hardest song I have written in a very long time. Harder than Black Sun Rising, which required precision and restraint but not grief. Harder than Children of the Ember, which required finding the genuine warmth underneath...
The Forms That Bearing Witness Takes

The Forms That Bearing Witness Takes

Present Day, March 2026For centuries I documented in journals. The journals from my early years in Florence are careful and specific: names, dates, conversations, the details of events that I suspected would be significant before I could be certain they were. The...