The poetry of Pulitzer Prize winner Alan Dugan struck a chord with Matheson, who notes a certain contradiction in the poems and in his own writings - an emotional directness combined with complexity. Matheson chose seven Dugan poems, which span decades, in answering a 2004 commission by Carnegie Hall through the Weill Music Institute, and also chose the Pierrot ensemble to convey his impressions. "Matheson tends to build to a punch line, which often helps clarify Dugan's slight obscurities. You ...

• I. Poem
• II. On Gaining a Soul
• III. Summer Gale
• IV. Poem
• V. Poem
• VI. Argument to Love as a Person
• VII. In the Forest