5:36 / Fall into Poetry / Read my Mind

The Write Focus

Every writer is after memorable writing, whatever will strengthen our words and ideas so they haunt our audience.

We want our audience to return again and again to our writing, either to recapture that original impact or to puzzle out a question that wasn’t answered.

Capture our audience, and they stay with our writing to the end.

Satisfy our audience, and they seek more of our writing.

This is our goal: win-win, us and them.

Our series Fall into Poetry would seem to appeal only to poets—but that’s a surface glance. We writers can learn from any writing style, poetry teaching fiction, dramas teaching nonfiction, any mix-up we can contemplate.

We begin with a story-song from the realm of popular music. This song’s endurance proves that it is memorable writing by one of our greatest modern songwriters, now sadly gone: “If You Could Read my Mind, Love” by Gordon Lightfoot, a ballad when most songs are lyrics.

If you’re unfamiliar with “Read my Mind”, then pause this podcast and head off to find a new song to add to your favorites list. Come back to hear our analysis. (Links Below)

Join The Write Focus all through autumn as we examine great poems that teach a multitude of lessons for all writers.

TIMINGS

• 00:00 Welcome
• 00:40 Word Count Challenge / Final Check-in
• 03:10 Fall into Poetry introduction
• 05:40 “If You Could Read my Mind, Love”
• 07:00 Four Requirements of Song
• 13:57 “Read my Mind” as a Ballad
• 14:55 Two Special Touches
• 18:47 Closing

Total Run Time: 19:49

LINKS

Lyrics for “Read my Mind” https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/gordonlightfoot/ifyoucouldreadmymind.html

YouTube performance of “Read my Mind” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK--A-IaZnA

Rick Beato’s analysis of the music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33YyowZZxQ

Link to The Write Focus website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2024/09/fall-into-poetry-read-my-mind.html

#writing poetry #poetry #GordonLightfoot #Ifyoucouldreadmymind

Analysis is All Original Content / No AI Used

[Fair Use declares that we can quote from copyrighted works by other writers as long as we use those quotations for analysis, explication, and teaching examples.]

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