A poem written by Richard Hoffman in the 1990s, inspired by the true story of a Bosnian refugee, it was set in music by Lucy Holstedt in 2014, first performed at the Boston National Poetry Festival in April 2014, sung by Anne Marie Codur, dedicated to the millions of refugees from the wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa,.... It was recorded in November 2015 by Daniel Cantor at Notable Productions, in Boston.  

Refugee, by Richard Hoffman

A man carries his door
The door to his house…
Because when the war is over
He is going home… Home!
Where he will hang it
On its hinges
And lock it tight
While he tries to remember
The word for Welcome….
If his house is gone
When he returns
He will raise it from rubble
Around this door
If he cannot return
His door will remember
The rest of the house
So he can build it
Elsewhere…. Elsewhere
And if he cannot go on
His door can be a pallet for his rest
A stretcher to carry him
His shade from sun
His shield.

Lucy Holstedt (composer, pianist, and musical director)
Richard Hoffman (poet)
Anne-Marie Codur (vocalist)	
Daniel Cantor (recording engineer)

LUCY HOLSTEDT
Lucy is a composer, performer, poet, and Professor of Harmony at Berklee College of Music. She is also co-founder and director of the annual Women Musicians Network concert, at the Berklee Performance Center.
Holstedt has been an admirer of Richard Hoffman's work since the day she first heard him, several years ago, at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Hoffman was reading from Gold Star Road, which contains the poem "Refugee." 
Lucy composed the musical setting for "Refugee" in 2014; it was first performed that April, as part of the annual Boston National Poetry Month Festival. Lucy was delighted that Anne-Marie Codur was available to help debut this composition—and also that Richard Hoffman was in the audience.

RICHARD HOFFMAN
Richard Hoffman is the author of three poetry collections: Without Paradise; Gold Star Road (winner of the 2006 Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize and the New England Poetry Club's Sheila Motton Book Award); and his latest, Emblem. 
His prose works include the celebrated Half the House: a Memoir, published in a 20th Anniversary Edition this year; Interference & Other Stories; and his new memoir, Love & Fury.
He is Senior Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College, and served for two terms as Chairman of PEN New England.

ANNE-MARIE CODUR
Anne-Marie is a Franco-American singer, scholar, peace activist, and climate activist, born in Paris, France. She has sung in opera productions, as well as in recitals that combine classical repertoire with French popular songs.
Following a Ph.D. at Sciences Po Paris, and a Post-Doctoral fellowship at Harvard University, Anne-Marie has worked in the field of peace studies and strategic nonviolence: she has led several educational initiatives to build bridges of under-standing among the people of the Middle East and North Africa, and has also facilitated workshops for human rights activists from around the world.

Recorded by Daniel Cantor at Notable Productions, 2015.




AMCodur