Suite: Night/Dance in the Horizon

a poem in six parts

"Night has come; now all the songs of lovers awaken. And my soul too is the song of a lover."

      -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This poem was conceived as a dance of words, and its format follows from the format used by J.S. Bach when composing his "Suites for Unaccompanied Cello," specifically the Fifth Suite in C-minor. Each movement of the suite attempts to recollect the rhythms of different Baroque dances popular during Bach's time.

The images accompanying each piece are from a painting by Salvador Dali entitled "Musical Tempest." The poster of this work hangs above my bed, and I've tried to create a story from these images that recalls both the music and the philosophy that inspired me to write this poem.

      I. The Prelude

      II. Summonings

      III. The River Coursing the Moon

      IV. Whirlwind in my Ear

      V. Court Gavotte

      VI. Jig at the End of the Horizon

19 February 1993 -- 6 August 1993

Return to Table of Contents