Periwinkle is a song cycle that was originally composed for mezzo-soprano and piano, but has been arranged for soprano and piano; it is a collection of character pieces using original poetry by Alicia Willard. High High Shoes is an upbeat, rhythmically active piece that illustrates the exhilaration and anxiety in reaching for one’s desires. Wings is a hauntingly slow array of uneasy dissonances, using only one line of text that is chopped into fragments and slowly arranged into a comprehensible statement. Boulders on Our Shoulders has a lilting jazz feel, including several piano solos that incorporate many aspects of the blues. Follow the Borrowers is much more introspective, with the music vividly conveying what the text colorfully provides in such lines as I’ll caress the tongue shapes. The title of the cycle is taken from a line of poetry in which the periwinkle dirt in the sky is introduced, providing one of many colors that are portrayed in the pieces. Periwinkle was written in 2009 and premiered at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts by Stephanie McAllister, mezzo-soprano, and the composer at the piano. After its recomposition, the soprano edition was premiered in Fairbanks, Alaska in 2016 by Amy Ingram, soprano, with the composer at the piano.