The Other Side of Music
All poetry is improvisation.
It is listening to the voice in the head
(no bets on where that voice resides,
or where it is coming from,
or what 'from' could possibly mean),
listening: to the first thing that comes to mind.
Then following up on that,
riffing on that,
sometimes with a formal intention,
sometimes (better)
just the intention towards form.
So called jazz-poetry misses the point.
Poetry is there already-doing it 'with' music
or 'to' music just hides
either the real poetry
or the inept imagination of the performer.
Poetry is the other side of music.
And in any case,
poetry is doing what jazz is doing,
but with greater freedom-
no chart, no time signature, no dance floor
packed with rowdies.
It is improvisation at its purest.
Something out of nothing.
Robert Kelly
Posted over on American Poetry Review
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