Music and Poetry - Guest Post by Paul Kooperman [12.07.2010]
Is Bob Dylan a lyricist or poet? Does it matter?
He has been heard to simply call himself a ‘song and dance man’, but he often mocks the question, as in the lyrics to one of his songs: ”I’m a poet, and I know it. Hope I don’t blow it.” And in the liner notes of his second album, he writes: “Anything I can sing, I call a song. Anything I can’t sing, I call a poem."When the Australian Poetry Centre ran its Songwriters Wax Lyrical event earlier this year, featuring Kate Ceberano reading her lyrics to Pash as poetry, Facebook users scoffed. Some said the Centre should be supporting poets. Not Kate Ceberano!
But what about Nick Cave? Leonard Cohen? And Paul Simon has had books published of his lyrics, that seem to stand alone without music. Are they poets? They write songs, publish lyrics, carefully select and arrange words for performance and publication using tools of rhyme, rhythm, simile and metaphor to convey meaning and connect with readers (and audience) on an emotional level.
So what is poetry? And if they don’t write it, who does? Some definitions of poetry, found in the more popular reference books, are as follows: “poetry is literature in metrical form”, “any communication which evokes a feeling”, or “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. Emily Dickinson said, “If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry”, whereas Dylan Thomas suggests: “Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing.” Who could possibly write that? Maybe very few of us are poets? Maybe all of us are. It is certainly not the role of any person or organisation to judge who is or isn’t a poet, what is or isn’t poetry.
James Roche, from the Aria Award Winning Band, Bachelor Girl, has written a pop tune and is calling for lyrics – whether you be a poet, novelist, zine-maker, songwriter, lyricist, full time wordsmith or part time scribbler – download the track and pen some words to this can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head tune. Deadline is September 30th. Details are here:
Paul is the current Director of the Australian Poetry Centre and has initiated many of the innovative programs run by the APC this year, including: the Poetry in Film Festival, Cafe Poet Program, poetry radio shows with RRR and SYNFM, the Dear Dad publication for Father’s Day, the Mobile Poetry Library, the Out Loud program, School Poet Laureate Program and the education website, Poetopia. Paul has a background in writing for theatre, film and television, having had a feature film produced in 2006 (WIL) and been in-house as a writer for Home and Away, while also being a published author with Macmillan Education and Insight Publications. He currently lectures in screenwriting and has recently received a commission by the Queensland Music Festival to write their opening show for 2011, Drag Queensland.
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