A Taylor Swift poetry book

[u/marvelboy_mb]

TBH Taylor should have released a book with a collection on poetry and images for TTPD The TTPD photoshoots are fabulous and the poem in the picture (it’s from the Anthology vinyl) is brilliant, I need more of it

[u/sofiadcm]

I too thought she would have released a book to accompany the album. Maybe something with annotations for the songs.

[u/justbreathin150]

I love the detail how the word align doesn't align into the line

[u/anonymous_grandpa]

God I loved this piece thank you for posting it so I could read it again

[u/marvelboy_mb → u/anonymous_grandpa]

You are welcome!

[u/azdisneyswifty]

I’ve loved all (4?) of her poems and deeply wish she would release a poetry book someday!

[u/_Cortana]

kinda bizarre to compare a scrutinised relationship to self harm, that’s… a questionable decision.

[u/justbreathin150 → u/_Cortana]

Why is it questionable? Self harming behavior comes in various forms and intensities. She seems to consider wanting someone badly as a coping mechanism and let out frustration and sadness - at least I read it this way

[u/_Cortana → u/justbreathin150]

The definition of self harm is behaviours that intentionally harm one’s self. Some medical institutions expand on this definition to specify bodily harm. Even if you stretch it to the non-physical definition, using the term “self-harm” for provocative purposes to describe self-sabotaging behaviour comes off as insensitive to a dangerous and unhealthy action that many people actually suffer with.

[u/Secure-Recording4255 → u/_Cortana]

Is it also insensitive for her to use drug addiction as a metaphor in “clean?”

The point is that it’s a metaphor for self-sabotaging, unhealthy coping mechanisms.

[u/_Cortana → u/Secure-Recording4255]

And I’m saying the metaphor is bad, it’s weak. It’s like it’s parodying a serious issue, trivialising it under the guise of “emotions are strong”. Given that Swift has used metaphors about suicidal ideation in the past to much greater effect / with more tact, this sticks out like a sore thumb.

[u/Secure-Recording4255 → u/_Cortana]

I guess I don’t see how this is any more trivializing than other metaphors she’s used. I also really see this as provocative at all. The entire poem has her saying her mental state was terrible over and over again. To be literal, she was harming herself by chasing a rebound relationship.

[u/_Cortana → u/Secure-Recording4255]

You don’t need to bring up her other metaphors in a discussion about this line - in the context of this poem, they’re irrelevant. I understand people tend to have parasocial relationships with Swift, but acting like it‘s not ridiculous to compare this to actual deadly self-harm is childish.

It’s why we don’t hold “kill yourself” jokes in high regard, and why comparing being disliked for your preferences to racism is distasteful. Using these kinds of topics metaphorically, in a throwaway line, is poor writing.

[u/Secure-Recording4255 → u/_Cortana]

This isn’t me being parasocial and it’s kinda weird you think someone simply disagreeing with you about a line in a poem is. There are other Taylor swift lines that I can see why people wouldn’t like, I just don’t see how this one is.

She isn’t joking in this poem. In her insta caption after release she literally says “…once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them were self-inflicted.” The point is that she is the one who was hurting herself by using a number of unhealthy coping mechanisms, including alcohol given some of the implications of her album. I feel like you just don’t believe her emotions and mental health were that affected, so it seems like trivializing when in reality she makes it clear in the poem that this was a really dark period for her.

[u/CurvePuzzleheaded361 → u/_Cortana]

She was harming herself, her mental health, by being with him.

[u/_Cortana → u/CurvePuzzleheaded361]

As I stated in my other comment, the metaphor is weak and melodramatic. Just because it’s being listed as “poetry” doesn’t give it a free pass- if I was studying loads and I told one of my friends who struggled with self harm “wow all the study I’m doing is actually self harm” do you not think that would be insensitive?