Invisible Strings is a vibrant anthology that contains the poems of 113 poets who drew their inspiration from Taylor Swift’s songs.
I was dumbfounded and intrigued when Kristie Frederick Daugherty said:“Knowing your blog as I do, I really think you will enjoy it.”
She was right. I have trouble finding poetry I care about, but this anthology struck a chord with me. In fact, I started to listen to some of Taylor Swift’s songs after I read the book.
These poems share universal topics related to friendship, love, grief, living a life of authenticity and so many of the emotions that make us human.
“You can be more than one thing. Women always
are. I was a sculptor, composer, philanthropist, artist, and a patron of the
world’s most elegant form of dance—ballet. In my backyard I even built a stage for
pirouettes and plies.”
I read the poems with a certain relief and
fascination because as we leave behind the rough waves of this ocean life- the
waves that shook us in ways that confused us or made us feel disposable- we
become more stable and balanced in our own foundation. We are no longer shaken
by the prejudices and the petty assumptions made by people who project envy and
lack of self-assurance. It is the wisdom of the years carrying us forward, for this
wisdom regales us with the gift to move on with enthusiasm beyond any kind of
pettiness.
I appreciate the diversity of voices and experiences
and the richness of the poets’ imagination and creativity. Poetry is hard to
describe because it is something that you relish and experience from your own
perspective and imagination. It resonates with you or it does not. Poetry can
create a space of freedom to feel and reflect on something, or to simply open
up new ways of looking at situations.
The variety of poems here excited me so much
that I wanted to sit and write my own poems.
Invisible Strings showcases an
accomplished array of contemporary poets, including six Pulitzer Prize winners
Dianne Seuss, Yusef Komunyakaa, Carl Phillips, Rae Armantrout, Paul Muldoon, and
Gregory Pardlo; New York Times best-selling poets Maggie Smith, Aimee
Nezhukumatathil, Kate Baer, Amanda Lovelace, Tyler Knott Gregson and Jane
Hirshfield; and National Book Critics Circle Award winners Mary Jo Bang and
Laura Kasischke.
I started reading one poem a day from the
digital copy I received in exchange for an honest review. However, once I
borrowed the physical book from the library I devoured the anthology in just
one day.
Read poetry.
I will end the
post with the fragment of a poem by Ukrainian poet Ilya Kaminsky (“Of Flight”)
in sweetness.
May
poetry find
you, one day
and help you
to empty the pockets of your mind.
May you find
--as one tortured
poet knew—
that Icarus
also flew.
Kristie
Frederick Daugherty is a poet and professor at the University of Evansville.
She holds an MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is also a PhD
candidate in literature/ criticism at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
where she is writing a dissertation that examines how Taylor Swift’s lyrics
intersect with contemporary poetry.
Feel free to read my latest poem here.
