I recently sounded out a wise man of letters (and my friend) Jake Burnett about poetry as musical lyric, preoccupied as I have been in forecasting the headaches my poems would occasion a composer. Happily he did not send me to Sidney Lanier. At Jake’s suggestion I dived into Warren Zevon’s “My Ride’s Here,” the… Continue reading Warren Zevon as poet
Category: Music
From poem to lyric?
Not every poem can be easily or beautifully set to music. A few years ago I read Auden’s Christmas Oratorio with great excitement, but it’s not hard to see why Benjamin Britten reneged on his promise to write music for it: I’m pretty sure it would have been longer than The Ring Cycle! Today I… Continue reading From poem to lyric?
Reinventing myself (again)
I’ve reached iteration Paul 9.0, Poet. I test-drove a few poems in performance in front of local audiences this spring was surprised at how receptive people were…