October 17, 2009

Instruments and All

I remember asking Mr. Blauvelt, my favorite high school English teacher, about whether or not I could call my favorite hip-hop songs poetry. He wasn't so interested in that possibility. He loved music. I know that he was a record guy. He once played us Simon & Garfunkel's "Richard Cory" when we read the poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson.

I'm sure I asked him because I was starting to frame my own theories and wanted to test his sensibilities. No doubt mine were more inclusive then than they are now, but I still see the overlap. More than anything, it's the language play, the bending of words and their taste in the mouth that keep lines of hip-hop angling for space in my brain alongside the poetry. It's also the possibilities of any song. Catch me at the right moment and I can get moved by Ray LaMontagne, Beth Orton, or Mos Def just like I can get struck dumb by Wislawa Szymborska, Larry Levis, and Jack Gilbert. But they're different. A poem has to generate all of its power through the words. They sit on the page alone. No accompaniment. None of the aggregation of force that Billy Collins talks about in his "Man Listening to Disc."

2 comments:

  1. Ryan Romine19.10.09

    Hallo Peter - just visiting at your suggestion (!). this post taps into my very similar interest in the similarities b/t music (esp hip hop) and poetry (i long ago resolved to right a poem around the themes/language of nas' n.y. state of mind). i keep wondering when/if hip hop will start having a more direct influence on contemporary poetry. but i suppose we haven't lived long enough to watch it take root. i'm surprised, and a little sad we never discussed this in our several poetry conversations. i guess its one to have next time ... :)

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  2. so so so so true. so true. (and you remember my mr. blauvelt memory, don't you?)

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