''The Desert Music and Other Poems'' was a 1954
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
book collecting 1949-54 poems by the American
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
poet/writer
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism.
In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
. It is now collected, along with ''
Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems
''Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems'' is a 1962 book of poems by the American modernist poet/writer William Carlos Williams. It was Williams's final book, for which he posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1963. Two previously-pu ...
'' (1962) and ''
Journey to Love
''Journey to Love'' is the third solo album by jazz fusion bassist Stanley Clarke.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Stanley Clarke; except where indicated
#"Silly Putty" * (4:52)
#"Journey to Love" (4:52)
#"Hello Jeff" (5:16)
#"Song to Jo ...
'' (1955), in the New Directions paperback ''Pictures from Brueghel and other poems by William Carlos Williams: Collected Poems 1950-1962''.
Table of Contents
* "The Descent"
* "To Daphne and Virginia"
* "The Orchestra"
* "For Eleanor and Bill Monahan"
* "To a Dog Injured in the Street"
* "The Yellow Flower"
* "The Host"
* "Deep Religious Faith"
* "The Mental Hospital Garden"
* "The Artist"
* "Theocritus: Idyl I"
* "The Desert Music" set on the El Paso / Juarez border.
Except for the title poem, all the pieces here are in triadic stanza form (with slight exceptions), as in the opening of "The Descent":
The descent beckons
as the ascent beckoned.
Memory is a kind
of accomplishment,
a sort of renewal
even
Parts of "Theocritus: Idyl I" and "The Orchestra" were used in
The Desert Music
''The Desert Music'' is a work of music for voices and orchestra composed by the minimalist composer Steve Reich. It is based on texts by William Carlos Williams and takes its title from the poetry anthology ''The Desert Music and Other Poems''. ...
, a composition for chorus and orchestra or voices and ensemble by
Minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
composer
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
in 1984.
1954 poetry books
American poetry collections
Poetry by William Carlos Williams
Random House books
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