This is Just to Say

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Wise Music

program note
This brief choral piece is a setting of William Carlos Williams’ famous anecdotal poem, This is Just to Say. The words speak for themselves. The setting is dedicated to my brother, Jamie, who had originally shown me the poem. I set it late at night on the evening before the introduction of a new tax in Australia (the GST, 2000) in speculation as to whether tinned plums would be considered a luxury item. The poet was possibly referring to fresh plums, though cold tinned plums do have their own attraction.

“This Is Just to Say” By William Carlos Williams, from THE COLLECTED POEMS: VOLUME I, 1909-1939, copyright ©1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.