[New-Poetry] Langston Hughes/ W. Dixon, Robert Johnson, etc--

[JforJames at aol.com]

I'm sure there are a slew of poems based on Robert Johnson's life
and songs. One extended example comes to mind: 
Forrest Gander wrote a 'libretto' based on Robert Johnson's  life.
It appeared in one of his books of poems...a while back, I think a  book
from Pittsburgh Univ. Press.
Jim F
 
In a message dated 7/2/2006 7:43:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time,  
cstroffo at earthlink.net writes:

Hey, I  got in a really good discussion the other day about Langston  
Hughes'  blues poems
(and yes I know that he recorded quite a few of them) and  their  
relationship to the blues lyrics
of, for instance, the  folks above, or John Lee Hooker, Big Mama  
Thornton, Ma Rainey,  etc---

And if anybody else here would maybe be interested in talking  about  
that relationship here--
Does it matter that Hughes worked  primarily in a different field (in  
the artistic specialization  sense) than these other folks?
Is it somewhat analogous to the difference  between, say, million  
selling hip hop artists today vs. a slam poet  aesthetic which  
utilizes many devices of rap/hip hop?
Or, for  that matter, even the difference between say Bob Dylan and  
Allen  Ginsberg's songs?

There's alot of room for discussion (and, sure, bring  on the "blues  
bashers" though I'm definitely trying to
avoid the  tired argument "it doesn't stand up on the page" and will  
try not to  engage it here if it comes up)--
Also, if anybody knows of any good essays  on the subject---- 
specifically about Hughes and some of the other  recorded bluesmen of  
the 20th C---that'd be a nice supplement, but I  really am not a big  
fan of posts that just send LINKS
without any  commentary as to why I'm supposed to check out the  
link......
a  discussion might be nice (but be careful what you ask for,  Chris---)




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