Who is poet and composer

 

The system works best as a point of departure. Like any good dichotomy, it is also a paradox. The moment it falls apart is the moment this idea has fully served its function. Those who are primarily poets also require a composer’s sense of rhythm to scaffold their poetry. Those who are primarily composers need a sense of poetic spirit to move the listener. By this logic, the best in either category propel themselves to transcendence by challenging their own proclivities and taking on as many qualities and strategies of the opposite camp as possible. For the best artists, it’s nearly impossible for an outsider to parse which was their inherent quality and which was the one they learned so well it became just as close to their practice as the first. This is a rare kind of mastery.