Invisible Strings - 2. "How can I tell you what dark wing" by Robin Behn

 "How can I tell you what dark wing" by Robin Behn

The first reading of this poem had me thinking "Blank Space" immediately. It reads like a list, and the repetition of "and that one's" and "his" seems to refer to a number of different men. The end of the poem, "tell me it's not too late. /Come lay your hand upon my troubled face." also seems to parallel with the end of "Blank Space" - "I've got a blank space, baby / and I'll write your name." In both the poem and the song, there are suggestions of a number of relationships, but at the end of each, the narrator hasn't given up hope. They are still open to another chance, despite the previous relationships not working out.

If the poet is familiar with Taylor lore, the poem can read as a Harry or Matty song - the broken bones in the poem reminiscent of Harry's snowmobile crash that's referenced in "Out of the Woods" - "Remember when you hit the brakes too soon / twenty stitches in the hospital room," or Matty's car crash in "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" - "You crashed my party and your rental car" aligning with "mail-order pills and convertible wrapped around a tree" in the poem. I think I have to rule out "Smallest Man" though, because the poem ends with the narrator open to another relationship, but in the song, the narrator is clearly finished with the relationship and not hinting at being ready for another.

Another 1989 song, "Style" popped in my head as a possibility. The song is upbeat but the poem is somber. The main connection coming to mind is in the song, "I heard/that you've been out and about with some other girl/He said, 'What you heard is true/but I can't stop thinkin bout you.' I said, 'I've been there, too, a few times,'" and the poem mentions "Old Nights. Others." but it could read that the narrator is speaking to one person and explaining what happened during their time apart. The song says, "Could end in burning flames," and in the poem, "the distant river on fire." I think this one is a decent possibility because it does seem that the narrator in both the song and the poem want to return to the same person at the end.

"Guilty as Sin" has some similar imagery, but on the whole, I don't think it's a match. I also listened to "My Tears Ricochet," but that didn't seem to be it, either. "Ivy" (an all-time favorite of mine) has similar themes - infidelity in the song and "Others" and "Silences. Disgrace." in the poem. The narrator in the poem is "here in this quiet bower." The narrator in the song "just [sits] here in wait/grieving for the living." Both make mention of fire, rock/stone, and wine. But my gut is telling me this one isn't it.

I think I'm settling on "Blank Space".