“A Pete Francis record feels like a ride from New York City to the coast of Maine.”
American Musician, Writer, Poet, Singer-Songwriter, Founding member of Dispatch
“A Pete Francis record feels like a ride from New York City to the coast of Maine.”
American Musician, Writer, Poet, Singer-Songwriter, Founding member of Dispatch
Pete Francis: “In This Letter To You My Friend”
Email me your questions or just say hello: petefrancisinfo (@) gmail.comShorter poems. I like them better than the longer poems. I read the Canterbury Tales from 6th grade through College, the same with Homer's Odyssey. My mind would always drift, and I usually got bored. There's something so perfect about a poem with just a few couplets, like William Carlos Williams' poem The Red Wheelbarrow:
so much depends upon
a red wheelbarrow
glazed with rainwater
beside the white chickens
To me, this poem is perfect. It looks and sounds beautiful. Poets like Williams and EE Cummingshave always kept me interested because their shorter lines pack more of a punch and allow my mind to spark new imagery and metaphors.
With my song, Carry You, The line:
green river flows like grass melting
To me, it has a Williams feel. I want metaphors that feel fresh and original in my songs.
Cummings invented language and diction that was original. Immodal Implozego are two words I made up. They don't mean anything other than the joy of playing with words. The words on the Immodal record are more related to a Jackson Pollock painting or the sounds of a trumpet solo than the convention of telling a story that "makes sense." I wanted these compositions to celebrate the beauty of abstraction when it is done well and create a spacewhere a new idiom can thrive.
I like many of the lines in Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass. They still feel energized and radiant. The goal of a great lyric is to be a springboard for the listener's thoughts so that one is sustained and nourished by the poet or songwriter's words.
I'd like to discuss how lyrics are formed. Would you happen to have any questions about my writing process?
What poetry inspires you? Longer or Shorter?
How do song lyrics affect you?
– Pete