Posted by Atticus on September 16, 2004, at 14:57:48
In reply to Dragon Scales on Subway Rails: a note to atticus, posted by Jai Narayan on September 16, 2004, at 13:37:33
Actually, this poem was composed pretty much spontaneously on my computer keyboard the way a jazz musician would improvise with sounds and texture on a piano keyboard. The musicality of words was my principal focus rather than the construction of a narrative. This poem definitely sounds better read out loud in an energetic tone than it does sitting on a printed page. It was actually a lot of fun -- a new direction to explore. And as I commented to someone else, it did feel more like writing lyrics than poetry to be read. The poem doesn't scan and balance like song lyrics, but the idea was to capture the helter-skelter energy of my urban environs and distill it into a relentless rhythm that would drive the piece along. It's a bit like parts of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", where the music is so suggestive of New York's hustling, bustling masses that you can easily visualize folks rushing back and forth up and down Manhattan's teeming sidewalks. Except in this case, I was trying to evoke the patter and clatter of the more artsy sections of downtown rather than Midtown. :) Atticus, truckin' on down the sunny sidewalks at lunch today
poster:Atticus
thread:391270
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20040828/msgs/391563.html