The composer does not want the self-sufficiency of a richly complex text: he or she wants to feel that the text is something in need of musical setting.

Can the ear hear a thirteen-syllable line as consisting of thirteen syllables? I don't think so, but I think that a series of thirteen-syllable lines (supposin…

My sonnet asserts that the sonnet still lives. My epic, should such fortune befall me, asserts that the heroic narrative is not lost - that it is born again, p…

It normally happens that if you put two words together, or two syllables together, one of them will attract more weight, more emphasis, than the other. In othe…

Bon Dieu; la voila terminee, cette pauvre petite messe. Est-ce bien de la musique sacree que je viens de faire, ou bien de la sacre musique ? J'etais ne pour l…

In The Doors we have both musicians and poets, and both know of each other's art, so we can effect a synthesis. In the case of Tim Buckley or Dylan you have on…

Basically, I write from a two person standpoint. First, I let the song take hold and I put down the idea as a raw emotional statement. Then I let it breathe an…