Tom Harding : part four

How important is music to your poetry?

Music came first and was my gateway into poetry. I discovered Bob Dylan at a seminal age and through him discovered Ginsberg and the Beats, all of whom were influenced by Jazz. 

I suspect a lot of poets are frustrated musicians, I know I am. Many poems in my recent collection Afternoon Music were named after John Coltrane ballads. 

There's a place where one and all these things are the same. 

Leonard Cohen wanted to be Garcia Lorca. Lorca of course wrote in musical forms and was a troubadour of the heart.