Poetry via Pandora

There is a really cool writers group in the Dallas area called, DARA. It is primarily romance novelists, but there are a handful of sci-fi and mystery writers thrown in.

When I first went to a meeting, I wasn’t sure what to expect. In fact, I remember wondering if there was a certain “look” to writers. Actually, the first meeting room I walked into before finally finding DARA was filled with Mary Kay representatives. (Close your eyes and pause for the visual.) A perfectly coiffed woman in pink directed my jeans clad self to the DARA meeting which was toward the back of the hotel.

As it turns out, writers are as varied as I could imagine. There were flannel-shirt-no-make-up types, gorgeous-lipstick-flowing hair types and a random assortment of those of us in between.

One of the odd commonalities I have noticed is that writers tend to choose their music based on the lyrics. It makes sense if you think about it since most writers are completely enamored of words.

One of the cool things about Pandora (my new discovery…see previous post) is that artist info is easily clickable. (Then the lyrics are just a Google search away.) The sad fact of being an indie group vs. a poet like Walt Whitman is the transitory nature of the music industry. While Walt’s poetry gets preserved in libraries, the poetry of my favorite indie groups only gets held on the music store shelf for a short while.

Luckily Pandora has kept my world filled with poetry all this week. Like this song by Audio Adrenaline.

I’ve watched my dreams all fade away
And blister in the sun
Everything I’ve ever had is unraveled and undone
I’ve set upon a worthless stack
Of my ambitious plans
And the people that I’ve loved the most
Have turned their backs and ran

This is the good life
I’ve lost everything
I could ever want
And ever dream of
This is the good life
I found everything
I could ever need
Here in your arms

Loneliness has left me searching
For someone to love
Poverty has changed my view
Of what true riches are
Sorrow’s opened up my eyes
To see what real joy is
Pain has been the catalyst
To my heart’s happiness