It was the Grammys last night, a time for Flowers, women, and poetry.

Here’s what happened.

Miley Cyrus channeled Tina Turner in her performance of Flowers, winning her first and second Grammy and Song of the Year.

Women dominated all general categories (SZA and the Barbie/Billie soundtrack each with 3 wins; Miley, Taylor Swift, and Victoria Monét each with 2), which is surreal to think about when just a few years before there were so few women that in 2017, Recording Academy president Neil Portnoy called for women to “step it up”. Guess they did, huh?

Oh, and Taylor Swift made an announcement that may single-handedly prevent the mainstream poetry apocalypse. Should there ever be a collective moment in recent time when poetry shall be saved, that moment may be now.

What, how, why in five brief moments:

1

Swifties all over the world gasp. It’s not what they expected. Some had been picking up Taylor’s clues—the cryptic message on her website just hours before, the Easter eggs going back years, the black outfits she’d been seen wearing over the last few months—and settled on Taylor announcing her re-record of Reputation, her second to last before finishing up with Debut.

But on this night, she happened to be wearing a white gown with black gloves. Now they have their answer. White for the TPD. White for blank spaces pages, manuscripts, notebooks.

2

As Taylor Swift moves around the room, the local economy around her improves.

Look at that, he says, as the camera pans to Taylor. Genial laughter ensues, and it’s not the awkward kind of the Jo Koy variety.

It’s true: Taylor Swift not only moves people to sing and dance, she moves people to spend money and pay attention. In 2023, after Taylor Swift started dating football player Travis Kelce, in just a few short months that led to an estimated boost to the NFL of $122 million in value and its highest viewership among women in over two decades. Mayors and prime ministers practically beg Taylor to come to their vicinity for the goodwill of her fans, yes, but also for the money she brings to the local economy. Estimates are in the $5 billion range for Eras Tour consumer spending so far.

Taylor Swift is among the very small crop of people today who has mastered the art of getting and keeping attention. She is arguably the very best at it. She leverages her “calculating” self, a label many of her detractors bestow upon her, and engineers easter eggs and mysteries and her very own sans-tech bro metaverse. Now the world’s her literal stage and she’s on the Crypto.com one on this night in February.

3

At the Grammys, there are three standing ovations for other iconic women in music: one each for Celine Dion, Joni Mitchell, and Tracy Chapman.

At the Grammys, Tracy Chapman performs her beloved song Fast Car with country star Luke Combs, 35 years after she first performed it at the Grammys in 1989. The song is about a woman whose life hasn’t turned out the way she wanted.

Tracy Chapman started writing poems as a kid. But in this 1982 interview, when asked whether she saw writing poetry as the same as writing songs, Tracy said “No, I don't. They are different. For anyone who wants their ideas expressed in this country, poetry isn't a great vehicle. I think it's something like 3% of the population who read poetry. Poetry calls for the actual reading, attention ... but with songs, you can do anything while you listen."

Tracy Chapman isn’t the only artist on stage last night who started writing poems as a kid before turning to music. So did SZA, Victoria Monét, Taylor Swift. Probably others. Olivia Rodrigo took a college poetry class at USC last year. Lana Del Rey’s lyrics are practically poetry, and if that’s not enough, she wrote and published an actual poetry book. It might not be enough—Lana has not won a single Grammy, ever.

4

5

She captions her announcement, All’s fair in love and poetry.

Poetry is having its moment, or it’s about to. It’s not just because of Taylor Swift. Not nearly. But if anyone could have any unofficial spokesperson for anything and make it count, to make people feel something, Taylor Swift could be the 1.

It's already shaping up to be her most contentious era. It's hard not to be this divisive when you're this famous. Taylor’s never been more famous, and poetry is the extra layer of divisive. (You being here reading this newsletter means you get it or you’re curious at the very least.) But if Taylor managed to become the music industry and the film industry and the football industry, she now has a shot at being the poetry industry. This joke about her impact seems a little crass now but translation: Poetry has the spotlight, the opportunity, the economic possibilities. Poetry does not usually have this. Poets are not known for making money. A lot could happen. Poetry might lift out of the fringes, more people of all ages could get curious about poetry, poetry sales could go up. Cue the "not real poetry" opinions.

This could just be how in 2024, after struggling to stay alive but beating through the pulse of passionate poets through the ages—because poetry has never died and never will—with the tap-tap-tap of music’s wand, the world will start to read, write, and sing poetry again.

Are you ready for it?