Robert Pinsky collaborates with jazz musicians: What do music
and poetry share?  Arts, entertainment, and more. May 19 2011
10:14 AM  The Sounds Poems Make  How the sax led Robert Pinsky
to poetry—and now to jazz collaboration.  Music and poetry are
sister arts—a truism embedded in the word "lyric." But what,
exactly, do the sisters share? Opinions vary. For instance,
"What is the difference between lyric poetry and song lyrics?"—a
question I once heard answered by a very successful songwriter-
singer. A little poetry, he said, can really help a song. But,
he added, too much poetry will sink a song.  For a few years, I
have been speaking my poems onstage with jazz musicians—some
great ones, including Ben Allison, Bobby Bradford, Andrew
Cyrille, Vijay Iyer, Rakalam Bob Moses, Marc Seales, Stan
Strickland. Also, sometimes, with music students. The musicians
have read the poems beforehand, and we discuss appropriate music
a bit, but what we do is at the heart of it improvised. Music-
making, the joy of playing mus