Welcome to my first installment of The Folklore Chronicles, a writing endeavor of poems inspired by Taylor Swift’s folklore album. I will follow track by track, starting with “the 1.”
The Greatest Love of All Time Is Over Now
You were the one, Jay. I was the one. Why’d you have to
dig up that old grave? Go looking for Daisy. She was never
yours. She didn’t want to be. But me? I tossed so many
pennies in that pool wishing it was me. It could’ve been me
if you’d just looked right in front of you instead of across
the lake every night. But that would’ve been too easy
wouldn’t it? You never did care for simple, Old Sport.
I’ll never be your chosen family.
Every time I listen to “the 1,” the lyrics make me think of The Great Gatsby. While I never cared for the novel when I read it in high school, the discourse regarding Jay and Nick’s relationship has always caught my attention. I even have a retelling of the book on my TBR list.
This poem comes from Nick’s perspective of unrequited love. He looks at Jay’s obsession with Daisy as his downfall. But more than that, he laments how Jay never saw a real love he could have had right in front of him.
The title of the poem, and much of the language, comes directly from the song lyrics. But that line in particular stands out. The bittersweet sentiment of “the greatest love of all time” being over speaks to the human experience of all good things coming to an end.
Swift even mentions the “roaring 20s tossing pennies in the pool.” That line combined with the overall feel of the song screamed Great Gatsby to me. It’s all about longing for what could have been without ever looking forward.
I’m looking forward to reading Anna-Marie McLemore Self-Made Boys retelling of the classic novel. It will be refreshing to finally see the queer relationship that always bubbled under the surface of the original text.