Poet in the Park

The Poet in the Park is a tribute to Wallace Stevens’ memory and to his singular accomplishment in poetry. It is an attempt to make an affectionate, human connection with a man deprived of some of life’s most basic pleasures – living where you want, living with whom you want, and having the psychological and emotional freedom to express yourself and evade the fetters of our Puritanical society. The method behind this tribute comes from work as both a photographer and poet – combining pictures of the natural world with a series of poems designed as what musicians would call variations, where one composer creates works that draw on and develop features from another composer, such as melodic themes or other aspects of musical style. The goal in such music is two-fold: to pay tribute to the original, and at the same time to make something new. Thus the poems here, while never attempting to fully replicate Stevens’ poetry, still draw on the manner, vocabulary, and poetic devices found throughout his work.