Oh Hell No

14 November 2017
Dennis Tobenski, tenor
Marc Peloquin, piano
Sparks & Wiry Cries
2nd Annual NYC songSLAM
HERE Theater

C♯4–F5 or C♯3–F4

Maggie Smith

This song was written in a fit of supreme silliness.

It started as a tweet by poet Maggie Smith, whose “Good Bones” I had recently finished setting. Another writer formatted the poem to look as though it were a poem published on Poets.org, and I ran with his joke.

For the song, I took the liberty of un-abbreviating the phrase “Casually af.”

A GIANT spider just sauntered across my living room rug. Casually af. OH HELL NO. Got him with a throw pillow. Finished him off with a shoe.

— Maggie Smith (@maggiesmithpoet) September 6, 2017

Loving this new @POETSorg piece pic.twitter.com/PUfHvnURgY

— Jacob Schroeder (@j_s_schroeder) September 6, 2017

@maggiesmithpoet This may or may not be happening right now… 😉 pic.twitter.com/vMz4aYsy7M

— Dennis Tobenski (@dennistobenski) September 6, 2017

“Oh Hell No” is also included in the Sparks & Wiry Cries songSLAM Songbook, Vol. 1, available from NewMusicShelf.