Another quick lyrics question

[rayheinrich]

Song lyrics (putting quality aside for the moment) have the advantage of music.  
Any poet worth their weight in words is envious of music's ability to viscerally
connect and engage the listener in an almost effortless fashion through beat,
rhythm and melody.  I sometimes find myself miffed as to why so many poets
write without a sense of music, write too "talky" of poetry, too "prosy" of poetry,
almost as if to spite the musical element which could potentially be woven within it.
I admit to being bored with most poetry that I read for this very reason.

Yes, I often wonder the same thing. Though it depends on what type of poem
you're writing. If I'm writing for spoken poetry, I feel the same attention to rhythm as lyrics
set to music is essential. Now-a-days this is the only type (95%) that I (try to) write.
And these poems don't actually have to be spoken out loud. My aim, even though it's
written on a page, is to get the reader to move her/his lips as they read it.

But this isn't the only type of poetry, there are many very effective poems that are "prosy".
Imagery, emotion, ideas have their own rhythms. Paintings are often described as having
rhythmic patterns, emotions come in waves, ideas in flashes. And any of these prosy poems,
when read aloud on stage, can be turned into music when delivered by an able speaker.

One of the interesting things about poems is that they do not require a staff filled with notes
sitting above them. Truly wonderful ones contain the notes within themselves.

Magic - Magic - Magic