so much beauty it could make you cry

I once heard it said that music these days is possibly the poetry for our generation (and probably the previous generation too). Although some English friends at Dordt (you know who you are) might crucify me for this, I'd have to say I agree. Maybe it's because I'm not up to date on modern poetry, or maybe it's because I love music. Can poetry and music be compared? Aren't they completely different things? Well yes, they are separate entities, but I'm looking perhaps more strictly at the lyrics (while acknowledging that many lyrics are driven by the instrumental music). And yes, the lyrics won't fit into the nice stanzas and meters of poetry with all its formal rules, but let's think ee cummings for a minute here.

From my experiences poetry should speak to the soul in one way or another. I think it goes beyond just beautiful flowery language and should be something real, something you can relate to, that perhaps shakes you to the core. I'm not that well versed in poetry, but I've read some stuff that just knocks you down, for better or worse. So it is with good music. I'm not talking about shallow pop or other "entertaining" music, though unfortunately for many of our generation, perhaps this will be their "poetry." Sure, a lot of music is just fun to listen to, but there's a lot that is also really beautiful in a deeper sense. I'm not going to put a genre to it because people have different tastes, and the way music is evolving, there's more sub-genres than you can count. But I will say that their are many bands that have influenced me through their lyrics. Unquestionably so. These songwriters have a gift of making their own experiences, pain, love, questions, emotions, etc. accessible for their listeners to relate to even if originally the song was written only for the songwriter. Just as people can relate to poetry or even literature, so it is with good lyrics. Songs are able to convey messages that make people stop and think, contemplate life, question beliefs and ideas, remember the past, evoke emotions, etc. Even if this doesn't come across in an entire song (though most songs are formed as a whole), even segments of songs can be more poweful to different people, just as people quote passages or lines from books and poems. So perhaps people will look to songs in the future when learning about poetry during our era, and maybe they won't and I'm just full of it.
Maybe all of this stems from the fact that I'm generally too shy to let other people see what I write, so I have admiration for people who put themselves out there.