Chris Lastovicka is a composer that set Kay Ryan’s Say Uncle to music in her composition Ryan Songs. Lastovicka’s third movement added to her piece is the second song named “Gaps” from Kay Ryan’s poem. The song begins with an alto solo, followed by a soprano finishing the thought of the first.

“Gaps don’t
just happen.
There is a
generative element
inside them,” (Ryan “Gaps” 1-5)

The alto soloist’s first line, corresponding to the first 5 lines of the poem, brings to light to the audience the idea of a gap. Lastovicka sets Ryan’s first line of text in a way where the word “happens” simply falls into the rhythm of natural order. Ryan says that gaps don’t just happen naturally; something stirs inside to make it from a small crack to a large gap. The gaps Ryan may have been referring to when she wrote this poem are the gaps that form between people as life goes on.

“a welling motion
as when cold
waters shoulder
up through
warmer oceans.” (“Gaps” 6-10)

Lastovicka creates the welling motion Ryan talks about in line 6 by having the soprano soloist crescendo into the word motion as to simulate what is stirring inside this gap that is forming. The comparison to colder waters pushing aside warmer oceans seems to parallel the change in feelings between people as this gap forms. The warm feelings of love and happiness are violently replaced by cold anger.

“And where gaps
choose to widen,
coordinates warp,
even in places
constant since
the oldest maps.” (“Gaps” 11-16)

The last phrase of the poem reflects what Ryan feels happens when the gaps that are created stay and widen. She views them as part of a landscape, as they grow wider, they change everything around them. This symbolizes the change that occurs when two people grow apart. Things change between them, even if they had been close for many years beforehand. Lastovicka takes the meaning of the last line of the song, “the oldest maps,” into her composition by making the alto’s last note and the soprano’s last note when they sing the word “maps” a note that comes as a surprise to the listener. This note that seems out of place signifies the effect of the gap that has been created, that in the end it will not be the same as it was before.

Lastovicka makes Ryan’s poems come to life as she takes the words and gives them a stronger meaning in her composition. She parallels the visual gaps Ryan put in her writing with auditory gaps made by pauses and rests, takes the words Ryan writes and sets the music to do just as the poem says. The combination of these two amazing artists creates an unbelievably beautiful piece that makes the listener look at the world with new eyes.