Invisible Strings - 53. "1993" by Katie Manning

"1993" by Katie Manning

If I go with my gut from the get-go, I'm calling this one "Mary's Song." The poem starts with this line:

You were ten when you first saw

the boy you'd marry from across

the room

Which sounds a lot like the beginning of the song:

She said, I was seven and you were nine

I looked at you like the stars that shine

In the sky, the pretty lights

And our daddies used to joke about the two of us

Growing up and falling in love and our mamas smiled

And rolled their eyes and said, "Oh my, my, my"

I'm such a sucker for all of this. The poem is such a sweet tribute to a long-lasting love, which you find out at the end has lasted for more than twenty years. The song has always been one of my favorite mushy Taylor love songs about a young love that lasts. And I not-so-secretly love the invisible string of the line "I'll be 87, you'll be 89" that she wrote when she was 16, and she is now in a relationship with KC Chief Travis Kelce, whose number is 87, and she, of course was born in 1989 and named an album after the year.

Invisible Strings - 52. "Since You Can't Spell Disaster Without Desire" by Christopher Salerno

"Since You Can't Spell Disaster Without Desire" by Christopher Salerno

I read this poem last night and thought "Lover." But I'd already chosen it for an earlier poem, so I decided to sleep on this one.

During today's read of the poem, "Sweet Nothings" came to mind, not because of any obvious word choice or images, but because of the message of each. Also, maybe because my brain had been thinking about it all night and day 😉

The song:

They said the end is comin', everyone's up to somethin'

I find myself runnin' home to your sweet nothings

Outside, they're push and shovin', you're in the kitchen hummin'

All that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothin'

The poem:

Leaving the theater, they will pop

the metal exit door and orient to how

the parking lot light bathes the blacktop

at yet another dusk, how the chill of evening 

 

has inspired the ornamental cherry

tree to drop its bulk of blossoms all

in a pile on their windshield. This is not

a real problem, they will say pushing

the petals away. This is what I was waiting for.

Maybe even more than Taylor's songs, those final three lines of the poem really touch me and nearly bring a tear to my eye. It's such a beautiful description of love.

Invisible Strings - 51. "Perennial" by Andrea Gibson

"Perennial" by Andrea Gibson

In this project, some poems really present some difficulty, and I struggle to get started on them or to untwist all the thoughts about their potential matches that are floating around in my brain.

Then, other times, I read a poem and just smile because I know exactly where the poet was going. And that's the case with this poem. I think it has to be "Delicate."

With Taylor's songs, I'm always a sucker for the over-the-moon, deeply-in-love songs. And it's no different when it comes to these poems either. They just make me so happy.

The link for me between the poem and the song is all the questions - the incessant questions.

And honestly, when I first heard "Delicate," I found it a bit grating on my nerves. But somewhere along the way, I read something about how she perfectly captures the obsessive nature of new love, how you can't get a person off your mind, how you're thinking about all the minutia of every little moment, every little interaction, and I thought, "Ding, ding, ding! That's it exactly!"

This poem is so heartwarmingly lovely, I have to excerpt some of my favorite lines:

When I look at you, why does it feel so much like 

stargazing? Why do I want to lose to you

in Scrabble? Win you over with nothing

but the truth?

Will you know what I mean

when I tell you to duck your head for the moon?

Do your tears ever fall like confetti?

 

It will keep coming back, even if tonight

is the only night I get to dance in the endzone

of your laughter after asking if it's too soon

to ask you everything.

Invisible Strings - 50. "Whereby in Reply" by Natasha Saje

"Whereby in Reply" by Natasha Saje

It feels crazy to not choose a song that mentions the word "red" for a poem that has so many red images in it, so maybe I'm getting really off base here. But I've already chosen "Maroon" for an earlier poem (#8) that I revisited and still feel fairly confident about that match.

In the poem, there are: blood, berries, cherry blossoms, cardinals, tanagers, ruby. So it certainly seems like it should link with a song that mentions "red." But these lines make me think perhaps it could be going another direction:

while you, alone, deny

our days are overdrawn

in the ruby bank of time

and everyone we know swift-or-slow-ly dies

forgive me if I oversimplify

It's the denial that's has landed me on "You're Losing Me":

My face was gray, but you wouldn't admit that we were sick

______________________________________________________

As an aside, "You're Losing Me" is such a great song, and it seems to be in the tradition of "New Romantics." Both are gems in her catalog, but she left both of them off of the main track lists of their respective albums. They seem like some of the very best Easter Eggs, for the fans to discover beyond the tracks that were commercially released. The real ones know!

Invisible Strings - 49. "Of All the Girls Who Might Have Made It Big" by Paul Muldoon

"Of All the Girls Who Might Have Made It Big" by Paul Muldoon

This poem, like several others, discusses fame - how to find it, how to keep it, who might strike it big. The problem I keep running into is that there isn't a vast array of Taylor songs on the subject.

The title of the poem certainly sounds similar to the song titled "All of the Girls You Loved Before." But I don't see many (read: any) similarities between the content of either of them.

So, then we get into those "fame" songs - "The Lucky One" (already chosen earlier in this project), "Midnight Rain" (also already accounted for), "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart," and "Clara Bow" are the ones that come to mind.

The poem focuses on the dedication to the craft that's needed to become famous - a few different lines from the poem:

a ten year game of tig / in which she would forever be "it"

the one least likely to call it quits

gig after three-hour gig

continues to exercise those gazing up from the pit

And those lines all lead me to "I Can Do it with a Broken Heart," since in the song, she talks about all the heartbreak she has experienced but she still does her job every night, making the crowd think that she's "having the time of her life."

Invisible Strings - 48. "Virginia Reel" by David St. John

"Virginia Reel" by David St. John

Clocking in at 7 pages, this is the longest poem in the collection so far, and it reads like a story. The lack of commas slowed me on the first couple readings, but when I read it like a run-on sentence, I was able to make better sense of it.

The first thing it made me think of was "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. The poem is set in the south, and the main characters are a father and daughter who both play fiddle in a way that others describe as "touched by the Lord / Or the Devil I don't really know which anymore."

The narrator wants to learn to play fiddle from the father and then begins to learn from the daughter, as well. At the end of the poem, the daughter and the narrator play together as the father holds "His annual celebration to commemorate his favorite sorrows." The father "began to rise imperceptibly lifting up beyond the dock ... dancing just above the water twisting while slowing rising higher within the air & drifting farther away." Virginia (the daughter) continues to play, then leaves him suspended above the quarry blocks, until presumably, he falls to his death.

This is a pretty dark poem, and there are only a few songs from Taylor Swift's catalog that seem like they could align - "ivy," "no body, no crime," and "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?"

For "ivy" (insert plug for one of my favorite songs of her whole catalog here), it's a section of the middle of the poem:

[...] I told her Well one day last week Lucas

Came up here & sitting just where you're sitting told me

I'd better watch myself & he pointed to those

Virginia creeper vines crawling up the trunks & along

the branches of every tree on this hillside

Slowly strangling the whole tree & covering every single

inch with their embrace & he said that was you

Virginia & your vines came from your genius & your mind

& they'd find their way up my body & finally

Into my own mind where they would choke every hope or

dream I might have until a redtail's screech

Floats at night over the James & nobody'd every hear of me

& I'd be just another meal of a Virginia creeper

This is making it so very difficult to decide, because I think that section is a perfect response to "ivy":

Oh, goddamn

My pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand

Taking mine, but it's been promised to another

Oh, I can't

Stop you putting roots in my dreamland

My house of stone, your ivy grows

And now I'm covered in you

Full disclosure, I wasn't intending on picking "ivy," but I might have convinced myself otherwise.

"no body, no crime" is a little bit more on-the-nose, as the song is a story about a woman who has a friend who is killed by her husband. He successfully covers up the murder, but the friend knows he did it but "just can't prove it," and she won't let up until the day she dies. The friend eventually murders the husband of her friend in revenge and frames his mistress for his murder. In both the story and the poem, there are murders but no bodies, but I think that's about as close as they get. The poem is about a daughter killing her abusive father, and the song is about a friend getting revenge on the murderous husband of her friend.

I had thought that I had settled on "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" and I may still end up there, now that I'm spotting more and more threads. The first might be a bit of a stretch, but it's a possibility. At the time the song came out, I felt like I was one of the few Swifties who had knowledge of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" a play that was eventually adapted as a film starring none other than Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton ("Burton to this Taylor" reference in "...Ready for It?" anyone?). All that to say, the play on "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" seems to be a thread in the poem because the daughter's name is...Virginia. In the song, the narrator leaps from the gallows and levitates down your street. In the poem, the father ends up levitating above the river until meeting his death. There are tones of possession in "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" especially if you take into account the final screen when Taylor performed the song during the Eras Tour - there was a filter that made her skin begin to look old (dead?) and her eyes turn completely white. Throughout the poem, there are references to Virginia being possessed by the Devil. Both poem and song also give power to their female leads, allowing them to exact revenge on those that have wronged them.

So, I did it. I convinced myself that it's "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?"

Invisible Strings - 47. "June 1, 7 a.m." by Tennison Black

"June 1, 7 a.m." by Tennison Black

What a beautiful poem to come across on Valentine's Day!

There are so many images in the poem that remind me of the Lover album, and specifically the "ME!" music video:

• I want to skip through daisy fields
• I want a plate of sugared roses
• Kissing her tastes like snowcones and marshmallow wine
• I want tiger stripes and a tail that swishes my thoughts out in 4:4 time
• I want to leave footprints in my birthday cake
• My rainbows come in circles

The imagery throughout the poem is just so joyful and in love, and the songs that come to mind that speak to that are "King of My Heart", "Sweet Nothings," "So High School," and "You Are In Love."

But none of them match the ebullience of the poem, so I'm sticking with, "ME!"

Invisible Strings - 46. "Take This" by Honor Moore

"Take This" by Honor Moore

I'm struggling with this one. I've considered "ivy," "high infidelity," "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me," to name a few.

But, I keep circling back to "Is It Over Now?" because there's a line about a boat in the poem, and the line in the song about the boat had become well-known as a reference to the time she was wearing a blue dress on a yacht alone, presumably waiting for Harry Styles, and it was supposedly around the time they broke up.

Poem: "a boat / on the ocean, and the sun flames down. / I knew I wouldn't wait for you."

Song: "When you lost control / Red blood, white snow / Blue dress on a boat / Your new girl is my clone"

Since the poem ends with someone walking away, "I'm heading out and wild for love. / So long hungry woman, farewell crazy dove." I think it's as close of a fit as I'm going to be able to find.

Invisible Strings - 45. "Homecoming" by Jennifer Espinoza

"Homecoming" by Jennifer Espinoza

I may have been thinking too hard on this one because once I read it through after having settled on "Midnight Rain," it definitely makes sense.

Poem: "You never noticed the way I could rain down / ten summer storms upon one small gathering"
Song: "He was sunshine / I was midnight rain"

Poem: "Fame was never the question"
Song: "He wanted it comfortable / I wanted that pain / He wanted a bride / I was making my own name / Chasing that fame"

Poem titled "Homecoming"
Song: "Pageant queens and big pretenders"

Invisible Strings - 44. "The Gathering" by Callie Garnett

"The Gathering" by Callie Garnett

I started the search for this one by looking for any references to "sister," since this is the final stanza of the poem:

Sister, my sister, it is only through

Loving you, you selfish, disorganized, twitchy, forgetful bitch

That I may love others

So I'll love you

But, Taylor's references to sisters are pretty sparse, and none really match with the meaning of the poem. So, I started looking for other songs that mention female friends, "Fifteen," "When Emma Falls in Love," "It's Nice to Have a Friend," "dorothea." Still, nothing was jumping out at me.

If I look for any other clues in the poem, there's the word "indifference," and there's also the line, "I have a thing I'm trying hard to forget." That seems pretty close to:

I forgot that you existed

It isn't love, it isn't hate

It's just indifference

Based on that, I'm choosing, "I Forgot That You Existed."

______________________________________________

In Taylor-and-Kansas-City-related news, it was a sad weekend for us 😢 KC didn't show up to play at the Super Bowl, and Taylor was booed by the Brads and Chads. I loved seeing the posts going around talking about how she sold out three nights there on the Eras Tour, and even news stations in New Orleans saying speaking out against the ill will toward her, because she brought so much revenue to the city and her donations to the local food banks were making such a big difference.

It's hard to understand why anyone would have ill will to someone who has done so much good for others and who continues to put are out into the world. Is it jealousy? Misogyny? At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter, because she has so many people who love her and will continue to support her. I just wish people could live and let live, and maybe celebrate those who are trying to make the world a better place. We've sure got enough people who are actively trying to make it worse, I know that.

Invisible Strings - 43. "If I Could Tell Her What I Know Now" by Tess Taylor

"If I Could Tell Her What I Know Now" by Tess Taylor

This poem is narrated by a mother talking about her young daughter and reflecting on she will grow up. She says she'll tell her about how she loved a boy who became a man and about the tragedy when love fails. She ends the poem with the lines:

To try. To Try again.

To cry and sing: to sing and cry.

I thought maybe its match could be "The Best Day" because it's a mother speaking about a daughter (the inverse of the song). But I think the poem veers more into navigating relationships than the song does, so I don't think it's the one.

The stories aren't similar, but I think the cadence and the end of the poem just remind me of "So Long, London," when she ends the choruses with "I'll find someone" and "You'll find someone." It reminds me of the hope at the end of the poem. Even though it's tragic, there's always the hope that you can try again and find someone who will treasure you and all that you bring to a relationship. 

Invisible Strings - 42. "Job 5:7" by Ellie Black

"Job 5:7" by Ellie Black

Of course, I had to start by Googling Job 5:7, and I found the following:

Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

This might be my favorite Easter Egg of this project yet 💜 "Sparks Fly" it is!

I've never made a Top 10 list of my favorite Taylor songs, but this one would most definitely be vying for a space on it. It captures falling in love so wonderfully, and it's always impossible not to sing along to.

Invisible Strings - 41. "I Go Back to the Past All the Time" by Jill Bialosky

"I Go Back to the Past All the Time" by Jill Bialosky

I'm taking the bait on this one and calling it "Back to December."

While the subjects of the poem and song don't match up identically, I can definitely see some similarities between the two.

When Speak Now came out, this was my favorite for a long time, and I still think it's solidly one of her best. With the Taylor's Version releases we've received so far (Fearless, Red, Speak Now, 1989), these vault tracks are also some of my favorites. "Electric Touch," "When Emma Falls in Love," "I Can See You" and "Castles Crumbling" are all way up there for me. That being said, I still adore a lot of the vault tracks on the other albums as well. It's been so fun to get to experience new "old" music that was written at the same time that the album was written. It feels like experiencing a bit of a time warp, especially with the guests that she had on her Speak Now vault tracks - Fallout Boy and Hayley Williams. Speaking of Hayley Williams, she was the opener for The Eras Tour in Zurich, so I felt like I got a real two-for-one experience. The Swiss didn't seem to into it, but Hayley put on a hell of a show. Will forever count that whole trip/experience as one of the best of a lifetime!

Invisible Strings - 40. "The Williams" by Naomi Shihab Nye

"The Williams" by Naomi Shihab Nye

I've sat with this one for a while but do not have a pairing that I'm confident about.

The only line that has really been jumping out at me is, "even in a Texas town where they wanted you / to testify before cashing a check." Which sounds a bit like, "Like a freight train through a small town" and "on a six-lane Texas highway" from "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)."

The thing that bothers me about this matchup is that the stories are so different. The poem tells the story of the narrator's life, which is entwined with poetry. The song focuses on a relationship with a bad boy the narrator thinks she can "fix," until she realizes that she can't. So, in content, they aren't really jiving.

However, both the poem and the song seem to have a similar flow to them. I considered "The Tortured Poets Department" but decided against it because the storylines aren't a match, and other than the poem talking about poets, I didn't see similar word choices, references, or the like.

So, for now, I'll go with "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)."

Invisible Strings - 39. "Grief Observatory" by Topaz Winters

"Grief Observatory" by Topaz Winters

There's a section of the poem that is reminding me of something, but I just can't quite put my finger on it:

[...] The last time, four months off of

medication in the city I swore would save me, I screamed

at you in the kitchen WE CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS

IF WE KEEP DOING THIS WHEN IT IS OVER

WHEN IS IT GOING TO STOP & you put out

your hands to calm the caged animal of my body

It might be "The Black Dog" - "How my rain-soaked body was shaking ... Old habits die screaming." Or maybe "You're Losing Me" - "How long could we be a sad song? / Til we were too far gone to bring back to life." I also think "Is It Over Now?" might be a match based on the above, but I don't think it responds to the poem as a whole.

Since there are two instances of a lake being mentioned in the poem, and the tone of both the poem and the song seem to complement each other, I think "the lakes" may be the one. "On the walk to work I pass the crowd / of people who go to the lake to be alone" and "I've never seen the lake they chose over my love / but with all that talk I have to believe it's beautiful." As far as a response, it does seem like the narrators are in conversation with each other. The narrator of the song explains why she has to go to the lakes, and the narrator of the poem is at home, wondering why her friends left her for the lake.

It's been so interesting to see how the poets respond. I especially like instances like this one, where it seems like the poet is in conversation with, and actually talking to the person narrating the song. There have been others that take one small section of a song and create an entirely different idea with it, and those that create a new piece of art with the outline of the lyrics as a guide. I really love seeing all the different, creative ways that these poems developed.

Invisible Strings - 38. "Broken Feather Bad Boyfriend Blues" by Marilyn Chin

"Broken Feather Bad Boyfriend Blues" by Marilyn Chin

There are two matches that are coming to mind with this poem. The less obvious is "champagne problems." There are two lines in the poem that definitely ring some bells - "The Swift Modest Proposal one knee on the ground / The London Fog erased us you vanished without a sound." And they sound an awful lot like, "I never was ready so I watch you go / Sometimes you just don't know the answer / Til someone's on their knees and asks you."

However, it's too hard for me not to choose "The Albatross" when albatross appears three times in the poem. Both the poem and the song end with a strong image of the narrator - in the poem, "I am the immortal albatross I am the one," and in the song, "She's the albatross / She is here to destroy you."

Invisible Strings - 37. "The Lucky One" by Diane Seuss

"The Lucky One" by Diane Seuss

It may be too obvious, but I'm going to go ahead and pick "The Lucky One" as the song that this poem is responding to.

I do think that the song and the poem progress similarly, both chronicling the arc of lifetimes. The poem first mentions her father, then goes on to talk about how her own life developed. The song first talks about a nameless star and their trajectory through fame and fortune, and how the narrator idolizes them. Then the song flips, and the narrator becomes the famous one, and she now understands why the star "took the money and your dignity and got the hell out."

____________________________________

In Taylor-related news, the Chiefs won the AFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles last night, and we got some super sweet pics of her and Travis. Only wishing the very best for them and continued happiness as the years pass 🤍

Invisible Strings - 36. "Hark, the Raucous Heiress Speaks" by Shikha Malaviya

"Hark, the Raucous Heiress Speaks" by Shikha Malaviya

I love that this poet was familiar with High Watch/Holiday House or did some digging into it, in what I can only assume is a response to "The Last Great American Dynasty."

It seems that the poem was narrated by Rebekah Harkness, who Taylor wrote the song about. The parallels between the two are so interesting, and honestly a bit uncanny. But that's why we're here, right? Invisible strings! 

I've always thought of "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" and "The Last Great American Dynasty" and being linked - the former being the "first version" if you will, with parties and excess, and the latter being the more grown-up version looking back into time and drawing parallels. Maybe (likely) she knew about the connection all along, but the two songs have always felt to me like they were in conversation with each other.

Invisible Strings - 35. "the much-maligned swiftie considers her options" by Stephanie Burt

"the much-maligned swiftie considers her options" by Stephanie Burt

There's a repeating line in the poem that certainly points to a specific album: "I'm in my reputation era."

I can't remember where I read it, but I really found it interesting that someone pointed out that Taylor's lead singles rarely ever actually match the tone or the message of the accompanying albums. A few to consider: "Shake It Off," "Look What You Made Me Do," "ME!" "Anti-Hero." They're almost red herrings, and "Look What You Made Me Do" certainly was one. The song was released on August 24, 2017 with the music video following just a few days later on August 27. It had been three years since she'd released 1989, and I was in a state of constant anticipation to get any tidbit I could about the single or the album in the days before its release. Her Instagram went black, then there were the snake images. I was so into it. Admittedly, I didn't really know what to think about LWYMMD on the first few listens, but the music video certainly added another layer to it. I was in, hook, line and sinker. The marketing and imagery were so brilliant, but it really was a "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" moment, because reputation was most definitely an album about a blossoming relationship and not one about revenge, like we'd all been expecting. Either way, it became an instant fave, and to this day, there's still not a track that I skip on it.

All that to say, that if there's a track that symbolizes reputation in anyone's mind, I think it has to be "Look What You Made Me Do." 

Invisible Strings - 34. "Tempered" by Teri Ellen Cross Davis

"Tempered" by Teri Ellen Cross Davis

As The Eras Tour continued into 2024 and The Tortured Poets Department was added to the setlist, "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" definitely got its moment. Everyone was, of course, stunned by "Down Bad" and the UFO and roomba (and made the spoofy internet content to prove it), but "Smallest Man" did eventually get its due respect. As far as songs that translated from the recorded version to the live version, I'd venture to say it was maybe one of the best. Especially with all the theatrics and everyone in the audience screaming along.

So, to the poem. The mention of "sparkling summer" and "rusting" are reminiscent of "I just want to know / If rusting my sparkling summer was the goal" in the song. And for a few additional matches:

Poem: "From bar to bed, you showed me off"

Song: "In public, showed me off"

Poem: "By fall I'd be alone with dents in my crown"

Song: "Once your queen had come / You treat her like an also-ran"

Poem: "what is it about small men / when they meet a woman worth knowing?"

Song: "And I don't miss what we had, but could someone give / A message to the smallest man who ever lived"

Poem: "The pinup becomes a push pin"

Song: "You hung me on your wall / Stabbed me with your push pins"

Invisible Strings - 33. "Once" by Laura Kasischke

"Once" by Laura Kasischke

This poem is sparse, and I feel like I'm going to have to stretch on this one no matter where I take it, so bear with me. 

In the poem, we have "falcons," but we've already established that Ms. Swift doesn't refer to birds all that often, so I can't find any parallels with that one. We have a shark's tooth necklace in the poem, and there are some necklaces in Taylor's songs, but no real solid matches with that. And we have the poem set in summer.

The line in the poem that's really causing some difficulty is, "Once (and only once) you / made me cry." There are a lot of references to crying throughout the catalog, but nothing is coming to mind where someone is only crying once. Hmm.

Taking it on the whole, the closest I can come up with is "august." Both the poem and the song are set in the summer, and of all the songs I can think of the story arcs in, this seems to be one of the only ones with a short-lived relationship. Possibly short enough that the narrator would only cry once? (Who am I kidding? When I think of this song, I think of a LOT of tears.) This, of course, excludes "Fortnight" and likely some others on TTPD, but I don't really see this linking with any songs on TTPD. I haven't convinced myself with this argument, but I can't come up with any better matches, so for now, this is the pick.

Invisible Strings - 32. "Resurrection" by Kim Addonizio

"Resurrection" by Kim Addonizio

I'm stuck between two on this - "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" and "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince."

The argument for "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" begins with the line in the poem, "Do I look slutty in this shroud?" This immediately made me think of this song because she's leaping from the gallows and levitating down your street. And while she's likely not dead, escaping the gallows reminds me of death, and a shroud is a symbol of death. "I'm getting blind drunk on pink rabbits" from the poem could parallel with "I'm always drunk on my own tears." And then there's the line from the poem, "I was such a messy crime scene," which could link with, "The bullet had just grazed." The song comes across as confrontational and in-your-face, which lines up with the the poem, "I'm not going to hide in the nearest bathroom stall. / Honey, I'm not going to hide at all." Finally, the poem's title also seems to reference her coming back to life/cheating death, leaping from the gallows.

"Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" is the technical pick, though I'm not convinced that it matches in tone. The first stanza of the poem certainly seems like it was spoken by a teenager, which is alluded to in the song, "You know I adore you, crazier for you / Than I was at 16":

Welcome to my strip mall.

Do I look slutty in this shroud?

Peel off the labels

O my frenemy

 And the nearly identical lines:

Song: "They whisper in the hallway, 'She's a bad, bad girl.'"

Poem: "I'm a bad bad girl."

The song continues to mimic high school, with the "And I don't want you to go / I don't really wanna fight / Cause nobody's gonna win," chant, so in some ways it does line up with the poem.

Perhaps in responding, the poet has taken the song's narrator, who escaped, and brought her back ("Resurrection") and made her bold? For that reason, I think I'm sticking with "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" as the match for this one.

Invisible Strings - 31. "Cocklebur" by Erin Belieu

"Cocklebur" by Erin Belieu

Since this poem seems to be narrated by a child or young teen (the first lines, "Summer over. Thorns / invaded the playground / while we were gone."), it would make sense that it could be in response to "seven." There's also a possible link between the two with the line in the song, "Your braids like a pattern," and the line in the poem, "We squat on the hot tarmac / braiding each other's hair." However, I've already chosen "seven" as a match with a different poem, and the darker tone of this poem is leading me elsewhere.

There are two parts of the poem that point me to it being linked to "mad woman":

I'm thinking of last year's
sleepover, when she told us
her stepdad scratches at
her bedroom door, begging
her to open up.

Then, later in the poem:

But I know what

a whore is. Or close enough.

And I hear that scratch in

the dark, know the creak in

the hall. Whore. How good

the word tastes when I put it

in my mouth. 

While it's hard to reconcile the age difference between the narrator in the poem and the song, the line in the song, "Women like hunting witches, too / Doing your dirtiest work for you," really reminded me of the second section in the poem above.

Similar in tone and a possible response to the song is this section of the poem:

We never

quite decide on the story:

what is it that found her?

What took her to the loneliest

part of the field? And what

were her crimes?

Invisible Strings - 30. "No Table I Could Dress" by Carey Salerno

"No Table I Could Dress" by Carey Salerno

So far, I've identified two possible options, but there were a few others that came to mind that seemed worth mentioning.

"I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" came to mind from the line, "How long were we out? Whatever. I can warm anything / even by stepping on it. I told myself." It definitely has the feel of the song, the narrator trying to convince herself that only she can change her man. As an aside, the final line of the song, "Whoa, maybe I can't," is so perfect in the most Swiftian of ways.

Later in the poem, the line, "I can't / from the dead place I placed you undeaden you," reminded me of the line in "End Game" - "I bury hatches / but I keep maps of where I put 'em." Although now the more I think about it, it could also align with "coney island" - "Did I close my fist around something delicate? Did I shatter you?"

The more obvious are my two contenders - "tolerate it," which is a song about a partner trying their very best to do all the right things, but their significant other doesn't value them or celebrate their love in any way. The title of the poem certainly parallels with the line in the chorus, "Lay the table with the fancy shit / And watch you tolerate it." And, overall, I think this could very well be the match.

But, at the risk of being too literal, I'm going to choose "Cold as You" for this poem. The song itself doesn't seem to contain much symbolism, but the poem focuses so much on cold, using the words "cold," "frost," ice," "zero kelvin," liquid nitrogen," "lack of warmth," "frosted," "snow," "shiver," "freezer," "frostkiss," and "winter." If this is the correct pairing, it's an interesting, much darker, response to the song. The poem feels like a story, almost reminiscent of an Edgar Allan Poe tale, and the fact that the poet was able to tell it in a mere two pages is impressive.

Invisible Strings - 29. "Ophelia, Mania from the Willow Tree" by Andrea Simpson

"Ophelia, Mania from the Willow Tree" by Andrea Simpson

It seems that "mad woman" would be the obvious choice here, but when I compared the song and the poem, it just didn't sit with me. There's a lot of anger in "mad woman" that I just don't pick up in the poem.

I think a closer match is "hoax." My first clue was the line in the poem, "What is your reason?" followed later by, "Please give me any reason?" And these lines seem to match the line in the song, "Stood on the cliffside screaming / 'Give me a reason.'" Both the poem and the song mention the word blue in relation to sadness.

In the first verse of the song, she mentions a "twisted knife," and the first line of the poem reads, "We marked our love / with the blade of your grandfather's knife."

From my very basic understanding of Ophelia's character in Hamlet, she is in love with Hamlet, but he spurns her in front of Polonius and Claudius, who had planned to eavesdrop on her conversation with him. This (along with the death of her father) drives her mad. This seems to align with the final lines in the song, "My only one / My kingdom come undone / My broken drum / You have beaten my heart."

Invisible Strings - 28. "Wabenzi Walks" by Samiya Bashir

"Wabenzi Walks" by Samiya Bashir

When I read through the book in its entirety before really analyzing each poem, this one stood out as a big question mark in my mind.

With a closer read, a specific stanza stuck out to me: "I don't want to hold on to / you, dear I don't / even want to hold you." It reminded me of the line in "The Archer" - "Help me hold on to you." Then the lines in the poem, "no kings / no horses" sealed the connection for me, matching with the song, "All the king's horses, all the king's men / Couldn't put me together again."

Invisible Strings - 27. "Lessons Learning" by Amy King

"Lessons Learning" by Amy King

Always endlessly thankful for responses I can recognize with accuracy fairly quickly, and I've got to call this one "Cruel Summer."

What an iconic song to start The Eras Tour. I remember listening to Lover (released a day after my birthday!) all fall and winter of 2019. It was always my soundtrack on the walks I would take on my breaks, and I specifically remember thinking what I great song this would be to see live. I wasn't wrong, was I? 😉

I remember being disappointed that Loverfest was going to be the way the album was introduced to the world, because I'm landlocked and didn't have an easy or cost-efficient way to get to either coast. Then the pandemic hit, and everything changed. Selfishly, I was glad that Loverfest was postponed because it was then able to become the beautiful intro to a tour that we'll be talking about for years and years (The Archer reference, anyone?).

Back to the poem - it was the "vending machine glow" line in the poem that was the lightbulb connection for me to "Cruel Summer." There was always something about that line in the song that stuck out to me because it's so oddly specific but striking as an image in your head.

A few other calls to the song in the poem - "summer's last call," "worth every dice roll," "secluded heaven," "glint of a knife," "in the garden," "button-deviled smile."

A favorite Eras Tour callback:

"We have arrived at the very first bridge of the evening. Is there anyone here who knows the lyrics to this bridge? PROVE IT!" 💖

Invisible Strings - 26. "Honeycombed and Dangerous" by Katie Darby Mullins

"Honeycombed and Dangerous" by Katie Darby Mullins

I've been listening to Taylor's catalog all the way through and just finished evermore. Having just listened to "it's time to go," I thought it might be a match on first read of the poem, but there were more things hiding in the poem that sent me in another direction.

It's unique how the poet has taken the theme of "Vigilante Shit" and added to it, making it more about turning terrible situations into more positive ones and finding ways to help people who need it - "And it doesn't matter if you can't / Hit the person who hit you first, you can / Help another woman find help, get free." Incredibly powerful.

*As a fun sidenote, I looked up this poet, and she is part of the Underwater Sunshine Fest, which is developed from Counting Crows' Underwater Sunshine album as a way to feature independent musicians in a live setting. My dear ol' blog is named after a Counting Crows song, as they've long been my favorite band, so I'd definitely call this an invisible string! 🌟

Invisible Strings - 25. "The Gift of Apollo (not a ghazal)" by A.E. Stallings

"The Gift of Apollo (not a ghazal)" by A.E. Stallings

Time seems to be moving faster and faster each year, and there are a number of things I'd still love to learn, though it sure is a lot harder to find the time as an adult. One of those things is mythology. It's so interesting and intricate, and it is woven into so many art forms. I hate knowing that I don't pick up on things because I don't know all these stories.

In all honesty, I expected The Tortured Poets Department to reference more poetry or at least name-drop more poets. I haven't gotten deep into the internet forums or done much in-depth research on my own, so maybe there is more than I realize. All that to say, this poem definitely references a song that refers to mythology - "Cassandra."

To borrow from the Brooklyn Museum's website, Apollo was enamored with Cassandra and gave her the power of prophecy. But when she rejected him, he placed a curse on her that no one would believe her predictions. She was able to fortell the Greeks using the Trojan horse during the Trojan War, but no one believed her.

Invisible Strings - 24. "Oracle of a Trickster Night" by Anne Waldman

"Oracle of a Trickster Night" by Anne Waldman

Time to do a little catch-up, since I've missed daily posting for a few days!

This one maybe should have been more obvious than it was, but there are some red herrings in here with mentions of "delicate," "exile," "don't blame me," "karma," "alchemist."

In all honesty, I haven't read this poem enough to feel like I've made full sense of it, but this was one of those times where hearing the song made the connection pretty clear, and I think it's, "I Did Something Bad."

I couldn't place the term "trickster" in any of her songs, but when I heard the verse, "So I play 'em like a violin / And I make it look oh so easy / 'Cause for every lie I tell them / They tell me three / This is how the world works / Now all he thinks about is me," it felt very trickster-y.

The mention of "crucibles" in the poem brought to mind the play "The Crucible," which is about the Salem witch trials, and in this song, "They're buring all the witches, even if you aren't one." And "string me up" from the poem has a similar structure to "light me up" in the song.

Invisible Strings - 9. "Heaven in Grand Central Station" by Joseph O. Legaspi

"Heaven in Grand Central Station" by Joseph O. Legaspi

We now interrupt your normal programming for a poem that I missed 😳 I went back to consult the Contents to make sure I had my numbering right, and low and behold, I missed poem number nine. So, I renumbered all the other entries and am going to put this one here since I just caught it.

I think this one has to be "invisible string." There is early placement of the word green in both the poem at the song - "Cornstalks swaying and yellow greening" in the poem, and "Green was the color of the grass" in the song. Then, we have the appearance of the word pretty in the poem - "Wasn't it pretty music?" and in the song - "Isn't it just so pretty to think / All along there was some / Invisible string / Tying you to me?"

Mid-poem and mid-song the narrator is/has been in the wrong place:

Poem: "To think years later in a big city I was at the wrong party"

Song: "A string that pulled me / Out of all the wrong ones right into that dive bar"

And I have to say that I don't recall ever seeing the use of "bold was" in songs or literature before, or if I did, it just never stuck out to me. But we have that construction in both the poem and the song:

Poem: "bold was your act of proclamation of love in Grand Central Station"

Song: "Bold was the waitress on our three year trip / Getting lunch down by the lakes / She said I looked like an American singer"

I also spotted something in the poem and song, and I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I love it all the same. In the song, she begins the chorus with a slightly different line each time - "Time, curious time," "Time, mystical time," and "Time, wonderous time." The last line of the poem seemed like a reflection of that - "starry Orion constant in the celestial, illuminated, illimitable space."

Invisible Strings - 23. "Incantation" by January Gill O'Neil

"Incantation" by January Gill O'Neil

I'm going out on a limb with this one, but it's a limb I like, so I'm sticking with it. The title of the poem first reminded me of "willow" because how can you not think of the orbs, green capes, and Taylor's witchy gestures from The Eras Tour when you think of this song? But, it doesn't seem to be a great match with this poem.

So, I searched for the definition of "incantation" and found this little tidbit:

Incantation comes directly from the Latin word incantare, "enchant". Incantare itself has cantare as a root, which reminds us that magic and ritual have always been associated with chanting and music. Incantations have often been in strange languages; "Abracadabra" is a not-so-serious version of an incantation.

I like to think that that's a pretty great Easter egg, and I'm taking it and calling this poem a response to "Enchanted."

As far as if it's the best match, probably not. The song is very much about a first meeting, and the poem seems to suggest a consummation of the relationship, but I like the incantation/enchanted link too much, so I'm sticking with it!

Invisible Strings - 22. "Paperweight" by Lang Leav

"Paperweight" by Lang Leav

I really thought I might be onto something with this song linking to, "Peter," possibly my all-time favorite T. Swift song. The line in the poem, "Just a year ago, I was walking on your rooftop, howling at your window, beating down your door" sounds an awful lot like Peter Pan. And an earlier line in the poem, "how can we ever be more if the romance refuses to die?" parallels with the song, "I won't confess that I waited, but I let the lamp burn / As the men masqueraded, I hoped you'd return." Both the poem and the song focus on a love that has gone but is not forgotten.

However, we've got some serious word choice in the poem that started to point me in the direction of, "The Prophecy." I should have caught the title of the poem, "Paperweight" as referencing the song, "I'm just a paperweight in shades of greige," but it slipped by me at first. The "howling at your window" was what tipped me off to the "howling like a wolf at the moon," in the song.

What a line to end the poem, "You said, stop trying to align the stars and wait - just wait for them to fall."

Invisible Strings - 21. "On the Stairs" by Joy Harjo

"On the Stairs" by Joy Harjo

I like to think that this poet is familiar with Taylor's work because of the mention of "midnight rounds the dark of eternity." I'm taking it as a reference to the Midnights album, and I think the poem could refer to "Dear Reader" or "You're on Your Own, Kid".

In "Dear Reader," she's singing to someone, giving advice, but in "You're on Your Own, Kid" she's reflecting on her own past experiences, which parallels with the narration in the poem.

Harjo's poem really does justice to Taylor and her work, I think. I love that time moves throughout the poem, "I am eighteen, thirteen. I am forty, or beyond the count." This really sums up how Taylor writes and why so many women can relate to her songs - they're timeless in a way because the listener has felt the emotions she writes about or is still currently feeling them, no matter how old they are. Her understanding of all the intricate emotions tied to experiences make her work universal. And I love that Harjo recognized that and celebrated it.

Invisible Strings - 20. "The bird in my mouth" by Blas Falconer

"The bird in my mouth" by Blas Falconer

For Taylor only having one song about a bird, there sure are a lot of bird poems in this collection. I find myself wanting to give up again because I've got no idea with this one. I've resorted to searching "bird in mouth metaphor" on Google. I've searched her lyrics for:

• birds of any kind
• the color black
• singing
• trees of any kind
• endings
• words
• old

Send help.

I guess I'm picking "Last Kiss" because "end," "words," and "old" all appear in the song and poem. Theme-wise, it sort of works, too.

Invisible Strings - 19. "can she breathe?" - Ming Lauren Holden

"can she breathe?" - Ming Lauren Holden

I first tried "Breathe" for this one, but it was a no-go. I also thought about "False God" because of the ocean reference, but again, probably not the fit.

I've listened to and read through "Carolina" and am settling on it, I think. The mentions of sea throughout the poem and the song seem to parallel well. I think this is what sold me:

Poem: "nothing / is relentless / but the sea."

Song: "It's between me, the sand, and the sea / Carolina knows"

Invisible Strings - 18. "Do Paper Dolls Still Exist?" by Rigoberto Gonzalez

"Do Paper Dolls Still Exist?" by Rigoberto Gonzalez

I love the imagery in this poem so much. And I think it's referencing "Right Where You Left Me." There are a few lines in the poem that point to the song - "no one knows you never / left" and "You'll regret / not tearing away like that / brave woman did, you're sure of it. / How she smiled in triumph as she / swift past your frozen stare. You, / fixture on the wall. She, unbridled flair." Matching, of course, with the lines in the song, "Help, I'm still in the restaurant / Still sitting in the corner I haunt."

While Taylor's being left at the restaurant is metaphorical, I love how the poet changed the main character into the subject of a painting - "Picture yourself pressed flat / on a canvas, each brushstroke a cry / for freedom because you're still / trapped in the small box of his affection / and no one's going to cut your loose / because no one knows you never / left." It's such a creative way to respond to the song that builds an entirely new world, separate from the song.

Invisible Strings - 17. "Letter to Future Me About Which Outfit to Wear for Future Wreckage" by Lisa Fay Coutley

"Letter to Future Me About Which Outfit to Wear for Future Wreckage" by Lisa Fay Coutley

Going to be honest, I have no idea here. There aren't many Taylor songs that talk about losing someone who isn't a romantic partner, so I think that narrows it down to "Soon You'll Get Better" and "Ronan." I'm not picking up on any sense of hope from the poem, so I think "Soon You'll Get Better" is out. Since the poem discusses losing a son, "Ronan" is the only real match I can think of.

I'm not finding any other inroads with phrases or imagery or themes.

Invisible Strings - 16. "Concessions" by Jessica Laser

"Concessions" by Jessica Laser

I'm going with my first instinct here and calling this one "cardigan."

It's the line in the poem, "I saw you / everywhere, a few rows ahead at the movies, in line / for concessions at the stand" and the line in the song, "I knew I'd curse you for the longest time / chasing shadows in the grocery line" (an absolutely devastating line, in my opinion). I think it stuck out to me so quickly because I keyed in on that line the first time I heard "cardigan." How can you explain such a feeling, such an emptiness, and such a reaction so succinctly? It floored me.

I do think that this poem could also be in response to "exile," with the line in the poem, "Where did I put all that love / you gave me?" and the line in the song, "Holdin' all this love out here in the hall." Also, another shattering song, one that for a long time, I could barely listen to.

Invisible Strings - 15. "Another Version of Us" by Christian Gullette

"Another Version of Us" by Christian Gullette

There was a route that showed itself early with this one, and once I saw it, I couldn't make anything else fit. The second line of the poem is, "in a cafe where poets give / readings on Wednesdays," which sounds pretty similar to "On a Wednesday in a cafe / I watched it begin again" from "Begin Again" from the Red album.

I did some obligatory Google searching, and it appears that "Begin Again" is the only song that mentions Wednesday; turns out, Tay prefers Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

Part of me wonders if this poem couldn't also be in response to "If This Was a Movie," and I think it definitely could, because of the mention of "this movie scene / being filmed on my street" in the poem along with "The actors know how to react." There's also mention of rain in both the poem and the song.

I have a feeling that this poet might be familiar with Taylor's lyrics because there's also a line, "they hit their marks," which could reference a line from "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart."

The more I think about "Begin Again" vs. "If This Was a Movie," the more indecisive I become. I believe all three focus on things changing/alternate realities. I really still want to stick with my original pick, but I think I'm going to have to change it to "If This Was a Movie." My main reason being that I can't overcome the fact that "Begin Again" is looking at a new relationship, where both the poem and "Movie" are dissecting existing relationships and how they could have been different. 

Invisible Strings - 14. "Radioactive Apology" by Subhaga Crystal Bacon

"Radioactive Apology" by Subhaga Crystal Bacon

I spotted the line "Maybe there's no afterglow." in the poem, but I wrote it off as being too obvious a hint. So I looked at other songs about relationships ending - "exile," "Dancing with Our Hands Tied," "You're Not Sorry," "happiness," "Haunted," but none seemed to be the match.

I actually even thought that I'd really messed up because I could see it pairing with "Anti-Hero," but I chose that yesterday. Upon further inspection, I think I'm in the clear.

I have to settle on "Afterglow" for this one. Admittedly, I always thought of "Afterglow" as a more hopeful song, but the response poem certainly seems to have interpreted it as a less hopeful situation. This poet referred to the song a lot, the more I spend time looking at both the poem and the lyrics:

Poem: "But how else to tell you it's all in my head"

Song: "Hey / It's all me in my head"

___________________________________________

Poem: "I can't seem to get out of the prison I've made"

Song: "Put you in jail for something you didn't do"

___________________________________________

Poem: "It's my island of how things should be"

Song: "I lived like an island"

___________________________________________

Poem: "I blow cold and bake with ultraviolet light." (What a line!)

Song: "This ultraviolet morning light below"

___________________________________________

Poem: "I don't need your hands behind your back."

Song: "I pinned your hands behind your back"

___________________________________________

Poem: "Maybe there's no afterglow

Song: "Meet me in the afterglow

It takes some work to dig in, but it's such a great feeling when one actually seems to match up! And to think, on the first read, I was convinced that this one was in response to "Anti-Hero!"

Invisible Strings - 13. "In Wonderland, We're Surprised/Not Surprised to Learn the Chamomile Tea Tastes Bitter" by Kelli Russell Agodon

"In Wonderland, We're Surprised/Not Surprised to Learn the Chamomile Tea Tastes Bitter" by Kelli Russell Agodon

I don't know if any of these poets are familiar with Taylor Swift's lyrics/catalog/lore, but I've been surprised to see a few nods to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland already, but none of them have matched up with what I'd consider the Alice songs. And I think the same can be said for this one.

The first, loosest, connection I found was the the line in the poem, "On a balcony, she reads / instructions on new ways / to jump." It automatically made me think of the line in "Is It Over Now?" - "Oh, Lord, I think about / Jumping off of very tall somethings." But the poem focuses more on the narrator's internal struggles with herself, while the song focuses on the narrator's struggles with a partner.

The last line of the poem, "A shattered disco ball still reflects / a fractured image," sounds an awful lot like a reference to "mirrorball." But if we're looking for something deeper, I also think it's a situation similar to "Is It Over Now?" In "mirrorball," the narrator is focused on how they appear to the outside world; they don't seem to be as focused on their internal struggles.

So, I think "Anti-Hero" is my best guess here. The first line of the poem, "Alice is playing cards with herself and losing," seems to line up nicely with, "I have this thing where I get older but just never wiser." The line in the song, "Midnights become my afternoons" matches with the poem's line, "The drawbacks of insomniacs / are the hours available to analyze / a conflict - a convincing script / a role-play of possible opinions. / In the problem of moonlight, she / listens to jokes from demons." And of course, the most memorable line from the song, "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me," parallels with the poem's final lines, "A shattered disco ball still reflects / a fractured image - her own villians / in the looking glass looking back."

I realize that my skills in poetry analysis are pretty rudimentary, so this is in no way a comment on the quality of poetry in the book, but this has been my favorite pairing so far. I really think the poet created something that works as a unique, stand-alone work, but it also fits so well alongside the song.