This is a captivating anthology where poetry meets pop brilliance. The poems reflect the emotional depth and narrative richness of Swift’s lyrics, offering a fresh, poetic lens on her music. Overall, a must-read for Swifties and poetry enthusiasts alike, blending lyrical admiration with creative exploration.

Taylor swift is my absolute favorite. This poetry book was very moving for me. I was truly able to envision every poem I read. Thank you

This collection of poems shows how much influence Taylor Swift’s lyricism has. I love that so many book lovers also love her songs, and it’s because of her lyricism and story telling. I am admittedly not a huge poetry reader, but I jumped at the chance to read this. And I think a fan of poetry and not a fan of TS will still enjoy this collection.

The fun in this for fans of her music is trying to decode which song each one of the poems is based on. Some were really obvious using several lines of lyrics, while others were harder to figure out. I only confidently figured out about 20 of these. But really all, with the exception of maybe one of two of these, were excellent poems that stood on their own.

I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this. Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the advanced eARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Invisible Strings” is a collection of 113 poets writing poems based upon Taylor Swift songs. This book is edited and organized by Kristie Frederick Daugherty. I found the idea of this book to be fascinating - if you’re a Taylor Swift fan or not, how one artist (or another person) can “see” another artist’s work can be rather fascinating. I’ll admit to not being a huge poetry fan, but I decided to give this book a try. Like with any anthology, some works will be really fantastic and others not as well received. Ms. Daugherty, in the introduction, mentions how she came up with the idea for this anthology and how she reached out to poets and this collection came to be. If poetry is your thing, this might be a book to pick up and explore. Did I think this book was fantastic? No - but that’s pretty typical for any anthology. Do I think that every fan of Ms. Swift should read this book - again, no, but I think if they like modern poetry and exploring how lyrics affect others, this might be a book for them to pick up. I’d recommend this book, but for me it was okay (3.5 rounded up to 4) … but then, again, poetry isn’t my jam. And if, like me, you don’t know the words to all of Ms. Swift’s songs, that’s okay - the poems contained can be read as stand-alone works of art. As a bonus, Ms. Daugherty includes a “playlist” of the poets’ works at the end of the book for further exploration.

I wish I was a poet so I could convey how much I enjoyed this book. It was moving and thoughtful and incredibly fun to read so many beautiful words inspired by the lyrics of Taylor Swift.

The idea behind this anthology is brilliant. Drop Easter eggs into poems and if you want to play along-figure out which songs inspired the words.
Non Swifties will get carried away by the poems which stand on their own. It’s a choose your own reading adventure.

Perfect for Swifties, poetry enthusiasts or holiday present gatherers.