Carrie Newcomer

Why Murmurations?

I’ve always been fascinated by the moving clouds of birds known as murmurations. There are practical reasons they gather this way—finding food, avoiding predators, and seeking safe places to roost for the night. And yet, to me, part of their purpose also seems to be an expression o beauty and joy in flight. Shortly before writing my song Murmurations, I learned that each bird bases its movements on the six birds immediately around it. In this way, every bird extends the neighborhood, widening the gathered community one small connection at a time. I find this ever-shifting, three-dimensional dance a powerful metaphor for how movements for positive change often unfold. Perhaps this is how healing comes—one bird, one conversation, one connection, and then another. Healing the world is, at its heart, both personal and relational. Like the hidden root systems of a great forest or the ever-changing cloud of a thousand birds, we cannot always see from the surface what is happening. Yet beneath and between us, connections are being made, lives are being strengthened, and quiet miracles are already at hand. As international peacebuilder John Paul Lederach reminds us, “Everything touches everything.”