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Poems of Wallace Stevens II, op. 14

Song Cycle by Justin Riveagh Connolly (b. 1933)

1. Earthly anecdote  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Every time the bucks went clattering
Over Oklahoma
A firecat bristled in the way.

Wherever they went,
They went clattering,
Until they swerved,
In a swift, circular line,
To the right,
Because of the firecat.

Or until they swerved,
In a swift, circular line,
To the left,
Because of the firecat.

The bucks clattered.
The firecat went leaping,
To the right, to the left,
And
Bristled in the way.

Later, the firecat closed his bright eyes
And slept.

Text Authorship:

  • by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "Earthly anecdote", appears in Harmonium

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

2. The place of the solitaires  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
Let the place of the solitaires
Be a place of perpetual undulation.

Whether it be in mid-sea
On the dark, green water-wheel,
Or on the beaches,
There must be no cessation
Of motion, or of the noise of motion,
The renewal of noise
And manifold continuation;

And, most, of the motion of thought
And its restless iteration,

In the place of the solitaires,
Which is to be a place of perpetual undulation.

Text Authorship:

  • by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "The Place of the Solitaires", appears in Harmonium, first published 1919

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

3. Life is motion  [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English 
In Oklahoma,
Bonnie and Josie,
Dressed in calico,
Danced around a stump.
They cried,
"Ohoyaho,
Ohoo"...
Celebrating the marriage
Of flesh and air.

Text Authorship:

  • by Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955), "Life is motion", appears in Harmonium, first published 1923

See other settings of this text.

First published 1919.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Total word count: 173
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