Prosody & Alliteration

Aha! The MECHANICS of Poetry and Songwriting! Prosody and alliteration have to do with the rhythm and repetition of word, vowel and consonant sounds in poetry and songwriting. They make it a pleasant piece to sing or perform and pull it along like a train on its own set of unique tracks. For example, in my song, “Life’s Just a John Prine Song,” see how the words and sounds marked in boldfaced letters and words pull the song along and give it repeating form (hear it also on YouTube, it’s there with 12-13 others):

He was blowin’ blue notes
through the end of his horn,
wonderin’ why in the world
that he had been born,
when I found him all alone
with his music in the bowels of BART.

He said, “Life’s just a John Prine Song,
it’s sad and it’s funny,
when you’re livin’ on love,
’cause ya ain’t got no money,
and your teeth are all achin’
and sayin’ Goodbye to their neighbors.”

I said, “Kleenex your heart
and help Phoenix your friends,
you’ll never know whether
your fortunes may end,
and your heroes are homeless
when they’re makin’ amends,
and love’s on the back roads
bein’ made by your friends.”

He said, “Life’s just a John Prine Song,
it’s sad and it’s funny,
when you’re riding on bald tires
cause ya ain’t got no money, and your life’s just a scream
cause you’re wonderin’ which one will go first.”

I said, “Kleenex your heart
and help Phoenix your friends,
you’ll never know whether
your fortunes may end,
and your heroes are homeless
when they’re makin’ amends,
and love’s on the back roads
bein’ made by your friends.”

He said, “Life’s just a John Prine Song,
no matter…how…it…ends.

©Peter Bray 1993
All rights reserved

Short Ditty

I could write you a short ditty
that might NOT be long
and might NOT be pretty
but if it stretches this column
all to some convenient end,
the typesetter, editor, and
layout team may remain friends,
and who wants to be
“Continued somewhere else,”
except a serialized Sky King
radio show (next week) from the 1950s?

Peter Bray lives, works, and writes in Benicia
and has written this column since 2008.

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