you are coming into us who cannot withstand you

Programme Note

The title of this piece is taken from the poem "Final Notions" by Adrienne Rich (1929-):

It will not be simple, it will not take long
It will take little time, it will take all your thought
It will take all your heart, it will take all your breath
It will be short, it will not be simple

It will touch through your ribs, it will take all your heart
It will not take long, it will occupy all your thought
As a city is occupied, as a bed is occupied
It will take your flesh, it will not be simple

You are coming into us who cannot withstand you
You are coming into us who never wanted to withstand you
You are taking parts of us into places never planned
You are going far away with pieces of our lives

It will be short, it will take all your breath
It will not be simple, it will become your will

The mood of the piece picks up on the simplicity and directness of language, the repetitions, and the almost breathless speed (in my reading at least) of the poetic meter.

Deceptively simple on the page, "you are coming into us who cannot withstand you" gains its impetus from the combination of small, simple rhythmic units into larger, sometimes repeating sequences by means of an algorithmic technique I call rhythm chains. These sequences are usually placed in polymetric opposition to similarly constructed contrapuntally combined sequences. The tempi are quick, the energy level is high, and the perception of multiple pattern streams moving at different rates is the main feature of the music.