The Tortured Poets Department

My inbox has been blessed with readers who have sent me notes or messages, sometimes with their own writing! A few weeks ago, I was sent this poem. There’s some things I really like about it, but others I don’t. Let’s talk about it. 

Calling all members of 
The Tortured Poets Department!

What’s dead is people romanticizing 
themselves tormented.

What if life was a choose—your—own—reality
adventure novel you were the author of.

Each moment you were thinking, writing, speaking 
your life into existence past, present, future,
                                               for better, or for worse.

Would you still make the choice to stand in solidarity 
with those who call themselves the Tortured Poets?

Or would you rather be part of 
			the Radical Optimist Alliance,
			the Eternal Sunshine Society?	

Persephone chose darkness,
I choose the light. 

Let’s start with what I didn’t like:

Did you notice how the poet name-dropped three albums released (or to-be-released) by mega-pop stars in 2024? The Tortured Poets Department is the soon-to-be-released album from Taylor Swift. Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism is coming on May 3rd. Ariana Grande’s album, Eternal Sunshine, came out on March 8th.

Do you think the poet was intentionally trying to pit against each other these three superstars and their records? Or was there a different reason for the comparison?

Also, the end of this poem… “Persephone chose darkness, I chose the light.” Does anyone think that is a little pretentious? Persephone is a figure in Greek mythology known as the Goddess of the Underworld. She was kidnapped by Hades and dragged down into Inferno. After she was tempted to eat some Pomegranate seeds in the Land of the Dead, Persephone realized that she could never rejoin the Land of the Living, but she pleaded with Hades who granted her some relief. Persephone then was able to come back to Earth during certain times of the year.

All that backstory begs the question, did Persephone really choose darkness?

Let’s talk about what I liked:

If you look at just the italicized words, a sub-poem appears.

Tormented
Choose-your-own-reality
Thinking, writing, speaking,
Past, present, future,
For better or for worse. 
Radical Optimist 
Eternal Sunshine.

The sub-poem may tell a story of a poet who was once tormented, but then realized that they manifest their past, present, and future through their thoughts and words. It tells the story of a tortured poet who became a Radical Optimist, who thrived on Eternal Sunshine.

Both the poem and sub-poem speak to the idea that we play an active role in shaping our realities. Romanticizing being tormented is a slippery slope. Who wants to be a tortured poet? If the past gives us any indication, the life of a tortured poet is dark.

Class is now in session: What are your thoughts on this poem?