The Road Home From the Hospital
When the AIDS epidemic was at its peak, Dr Berlin wrote his own version of "Spring and All," in which he speaks directly to the original author, Wayne Carlos Williams. There are parallels to coronavirus in these works.
POETRY FOR THE PANDEMIC
One of William Carlos Williams's (1883-1936) best known poems is "Spring and All." I thought it was right on target for COVID-19, with its first line, "By the the road to the contagious hospital." It also contains one of his most famous lines where he refers to spring as a "new world naked."
At the time Williams wrote the poem, diseases like polio, measles whooping cough, diphtheria circulated, but not AIDs or COVID-19.
When the AIDS epidemic was at its peak. I wrote my own version of Spring and All, in which I speak directly to Williams, and so I tried to capture his voice.
Music ©Bensound
