Young Writers Society

Heya yoshi here for a review!!! (Been a while since I've done this so set me back on track if I do something wrong)

At face value, this poem definitely speaks of love, but not just any kind of love-- a complex and regretfully painful one. The speaker just seems very regretful the entire time (not really sure how to phrase it better). I feel like an important part of this poem is that the speaker writes of love with a negative connotation, rather than expressing desire in a more cheerful and shallow way. Well, maybe they're going through a tough spot. Idk.

Anyways

oh the curse of taking my last name/ a malevolence you were never even promised

So, about the first stanza . . . i don't want to admit that I had to look up what malevolence was, but moving on--

I spent a really long time thinking about what these first two lines mean. So I'm assuming the "taking my last name" refers to changing your surname following marriage. The intended audience/reader has wed the speaker, and the speaker's last name was "taken", which is by the way a very cool little poetic line. I love it.

I see this as the speaker actually angry with the reader, as it seems like she didn't want to have her last name taken at all?

The rest of the stanza reaffirms the speaker's love for the reader, but the speaker wonders if she's sinning for whispering "i love everything you are/and everything you'll never be". I thought this could be interpreted in two ways.
1. the speaker implies that she doesn't actually feel this way, and thinks that this dialogue is just a straight up lie-- which is the sin
2. the speaker specifically thinks that loving "everything you'll never be" is the sin, which is probably a little more of an interesting interpretation.

Going with number 2, I think "everything you'll never be" has a few different meanings. I could be that
1. the speaker loves all the things that the reader isn't (which is a little literal, and a little bit contradictory with the rest of the poem, so I don't think this is it)
2. the speaker loves the fact that the reader isn't those things that the reader isn't (i love you for who you are type stuff)

So, going with number 2 again I guess the speaker is saying that she loves everything about the reader . My only confusion is that I'm not entirely sure what is sinful about that (but I may be taking the poem too literally).

crawl into the hollows of my bones/and let me only once make you whole

not much to say about this. I think the speaker is asking for the more physical part of their relationship, which reaffirms the love and lust there, but I feel like the poem is more about the psychological aspect of their relationship.

is it a crime to run to the solace of a weeping willow/they're everything i'll never be

At this point, I noticed the parallels. The first stanza asks if the speaker is sinning. The second one, if it's a crime. (And the thing with "i'll never be"/"you'll never be" is cool aswell).

I feel like these lines are talking about the speaker's feelings of self-inadequacy (idk if that's a word or not). I'm pretty sure weeping willows symbolize,,, like weeping,,, so sadness?? So I think the speaker says the weeping willows is something she'll never be, which means she's likely taken a more deadpan emotional response to the stuff that's happened.

AAaaand now the last stanza >:D

AND to be known is to be loved

whoaaa!!! she said it!!! she said the thing!!!!

cool little insert of the title there, but anyways, the last stanza is obviously the climax of the poem, but it was a lot different than I expected. I thought the speaker would kind of stay in the introspective, sad tone throughout the entire poem, but the last stanza kind of switches it up. Instead of regretfulness, the speaker comes in with a lot more indignation than the rest of the poem.

especially ==> "it'll be impossible to scrub my hands of what you are"

I really feel like the speaker is just overall mad, but not exactly at the reader??? more like at her whole situation (especially with the lines at the end about the god).

Now back to the main idea.

I feel like the title is trying to point to the overall theme of the poem, so I'm going with that: "to be known is to be loved". I think the speaker is saying that understanding your lover is a big aspect of love, and the speaker, now having a great understanding of her lover, also might have a few regrets and a few problems but can't exactly get mad at the reader for it, so instead throws all the blame on the "god that did this to [them]" and put them in this impossible situation.

Anyways, that's my guess to what this poem means. Was I close? I'd love to hear your thoughts (and I hope this review was helpful).

peace, yosh