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.