BEVERLY EASTERLING – a lyrical poet

by Robert "Bob" Bussey

The relationship between music and poetry has survived for millennia. While each is a separate form of art, they are often blended together. Music has been part of all societies around the globe since the beginning of the time when humans became aware enough to create distinct sounds.

Perhaps even before humans had the capacity to create languages. Poetry needed language, whether written or spoken, to come into being. The blending of music and poetry appears to have come naturally to humans since they both require (although not always) the use of rhythm and rhyme.

The Greek rhapsodies, the Japanese tanka, the Chinese Shijing are all typical examples of sung poems. (I’ll let you do some research on those types of poems.) However, and closer to home for most of us, music found in most every religion was often poetic, with rhyme, meter, and accented syllables (feet). In the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, many of the earliest works of literature are poems with religious content. Classical Islamic literature had a type of religious poetry featuring mystical uses of love poems and standardized rhymes and imagery.

A major form of English poetry of the 17th century was the devotional poetry. The forms and genres of poetry often (although not always) include some rhythm – epics, hymns, psalms, elegies, hadiths, suras.

You can see and hear the blending of poetry and music in the work of Beverly Easterling. Beverly Easterling is a writer, poet, lyricist, and retired voice teacher. Her work can be found inVoices Found, a supplement to the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal.

She is a lyricist (she writes the lyrics to music composed by others) who has collaborated with noted composers Robert J. Powell, Mark Hayes, Mark Schweizer, and George Mabry. She lives right here in Alexandria, Louisiana. She is a member of the Bad Gnus Poets group that meets regularly at Tamp and Grind. She also appears at open mike events.

I had the chance to interview Beverly about her poetry and her music. She told me that she initially wanted to become an opera singer when she first attended college. She started out at Ole Miss in visual arts and music but did not finish. Instead, she met a young man who won her heart and they soon married. This was back in the Vietnam era. She and Gray settled in the Alexandria area after he completed his military duties.

Locally, she has been involved with City Park Players, The Gridiron Show, Red River Opera Company, the Rapides Symphony, has sung at numerous weddings and funerals, and has had roles in around 35 musicals over the years. She currently sings with Red River Chorale. Her love for music has not diminished over time.

While some poets started writing at an early age, Beverly did not start her poetry adventure until around four years ago, however, her training in music helped her with poetry. In fact, many of the ways musical lyrics are put together are similar to how poems are constructed (although in poetry, we find poets breaking the rules more often than in lyrical music).

Meter is a literary device that works as a structural element in poetry and lyrical music. Essentially, meter is the basic rhythmic structure of a line within a poem, poetic work, or the lyrics of a song. Meter functions as a way of establishing a specific number of syllables and emphasis when it comes to a line of poetry that adds to its musicality. It consists of the number of syllables and the pattern of emphasis on those syllables. The same is true in the lyrics of a song.

Unlike meter, rhythm is less about a steady and measured beat of syllables. Instead, the purpose of rhythm is to create natural patterns and flow of words that enhance a poetic work’s tone and content. This is especially true for poets that write free verse. In this case, meter is not emphasized to give the verse poetic structure. Instead, poets of free verse focus on natural rhythm and pacing.

Beverly does not classify herself as a particular type of poet. She is not purely free verse, not purely a sonnet poet, not purely an ode poet. Instead, she writes about whatever might pop into her head. Often rising in the middle of the night to write down an idea that has crept into her sleeping hours.

Let’s take a look at one of her earlier songs and then at several of her poems. “The Garden” music was composed by Mark Hayes and the lyrics were written by Beverly. I think you will be able to see all of the elements of poetry and music lyrics in this one.

There is a garden fair to see
where Jesus Christ a child was He.
He planted roses red and white
To make Himself a garden bright.
And when they saw that he was there,
they came and plucked the rose tree bare.

There is a garden sad to see
Where Jesus prayed, Gethsemane.
He prayed alone with all his might
for strength to wait the coming night.
And when they say Him thus displayed,
Twas with a kiss He was betrayed.

There is a garden made of stone,
Where hope for all the world was sown.
Sweet Mary came for one last time,
Carrying myrrh, His wounds to bind.
And when she saw the tomb was bare,
her grief descended to despair.
There in that garden, love became
all life restored, renewed, reclaimed.
“Seek not the living with the dead”
He spoke among the roses red.
She turned and saw the shining one,
God’s perfect gift: His perfect Son.
There is a garden fair to see,
God’s gift of love is plain to see:
His perfect son.