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.