I was listening to a radio interview with Florence Welch yesterday where she talked about the creative process for her new album, How Big How Blue How Beautiful, and its inspiration. While the album as a whole is her reflection on an ended relationship, lost love wasn't the only inspiration. Art and novels have always played a large role in her music, and she noted that the inspiration for a line in "Various Storms & Saints" stemmed from a poem she read while working on the album. The line, slightly amended in the song, is:

"you had to have him, and so you did"

which is from the poem "Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell," by Marty McConnell. After listening to the interview, I looked up the poem and was instantly taken by McConnell and her writing style. The poem reads as follows:

Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell
by Marty McConnell

leaving is not enough; you must
stay gone. train your heart
like a dog. change the locks
even on the house he’s never
visited. you lucky, lucky girl.
you have an apartment
just your size. a bathtub
full of tea. a heart the size
of Arizona, but not nearly
so arid. don’t wish away
your cracked past, your
crooked toes, your problems
are papier mache puppets
you made or bought because the vendor
at the market was so compelling you just
had to have them. you had to have him.
and you did. and now you pull down
the bridge between your houses.
you make him call before
he visits. you take a lover
for granted, you take
a lover who looks at you
like maybe you are magic. make
the first bottle you consume
in this place a relic. place it
on whatever altar you fashion
with a knife and five cranberries.
don’t lose too much weight.
stupid girls are always trying
to disappear as revenge. and you
are not stupid. you loved a man
with more hands than a parade
of beggars, and here you stand. heart
like a four-poster bed. heart like a canvas.
heart leaking something so strong
they can smell it in the street.

I finished the poem and then I read it again; and again.

Well shit. Yeah, I said to myself, to the poem, and to McConnell (not that she heard me).

I then dove into the Twittersphere to see what short-form creations she's shared there that I could eat up excitedly. I found the following:

And so the clock struck midnight and I folded into bed with heavy eyes and a calm heart.

Thanks ladies,

xxChris