By Megan Hatfield

The poem “Flowers From a New Love After a Divorce,” as you guessed it from the title, analyzes a new love that arises after a divorce and uses symbolism with metaphorical imagery to highlight the idea of being able to recover from something such as a heartbreak or a divorce of a past relationship, that has caused you so much pain. After this pain, the author concludes that even with all this suffering and enduring grief, you can still overcome this and figure out what is next for you in life. This pain is only temporary and sooner or later you will feel this hurt may slowly drift away, as you build a way to finally “bloom” again. Or maybe even throughout this process, the pain may still be there, but you have found a way to ‘hide’ it and learn how to thrive with it. 

The author divides this poem into 48 total lines and 7 stanzas. Throughout the poem there is a pretty continuous structure with each stanza being 6 lines. The author does not use rhyming schemes but does use several words repeatedly throughout the poem: “flowers” or “florist,” “bloom” and a few others. The repetition of these words help understand as you read, what Rekdal’s is trying to explain throughout the poem. The flowers are a huge symbol that helps the author connect the idea of being able to “bloom” after the agony that was left on the individuals impacted from the divorce. Being able to find love again and finally blossom to your truest self. The author throughout the poem, illustrates the concept of this pain through the metaphor of “wounds” and expresses that when flowers are cut, these wounds open. “Who knew what was cut could heal again, the green wounds close, stitching themselves together?” This line at the end of stanza one helps give the reader the understanding that over time, these wounds will eventually close and will be stitched together. You will be able to find that love again that you once had and you will be able to move on. With a real flower, cutting the bottom allows the water to keep this flower alive. Cutting a flower allows it to keep blooming, so to connect this to you as an individual you have to allow that process of cutting to find ways to heal. You have to let a flower be cut regardless if in the end there will be nothing left. Simply put, it helps recognize that this is all part of the long process towards a new journey. 

As the poem progresses, Rekdal also uses a few colors to portray imagery and symbolism to represent phrases that she uses: Green to represent wounds, Red and White as flowers, Black for the dead flower or to represent some metaphorical “death” within the narrator. Towards the beginning of the poem, the flowers are portrayed as a beautiful red and white color that are fresh during what seems to be the good or the happy times in this relationship. Then slowly over time, they visibly start to wither and turn to an ugly dark color. “The flowers’ colors are so lovely they’re painful. In a week, you’ll have to throw them out.” They are no longer beautiful and it now represents this ending of the relationship or the ending of something for the narrator that she wants to move on from. Perhaps it gives this person a new path for a new beginning or a sense of hope that something better will come along soon. This love is no longer there and now these flowers represent something totally different. The author helps the reader visualize by cutting the stems of these flowers and slowly over time, these cuts become larger and now there is nothing left of the flower. The relationship eventually dies off and it no longer holds any meaning to the narrator. The individual can finally bloom in place of what void that the relationship has filled. These cuts show that by cutting the stems of the flowers you are giving a chance for new blossom within yourself and through the metaphor, growth of new love or growth as an individual. Giving yourself a chance to be able to move forward and discover new opportunities for yourself.

Towards the end of the poem this illustration of flowers losing their color is readdressed, but this time when it is expressed, this line helps explain that although this flower withers away with time, it does heal and will eventually grow back. “The red-and-white heads droop, blackened at the stems. It doesn’t matter. Even cut stems heal.” Although it seems quite morbid, this quote helps show that even with something once so beautiful slowly withers down to eventually nothing, it says that cut stems heal. Quite obviously a flower that is cut so much to the point where there is no flower left, the flower does not heal itself and it dies. But instead the author is conveying that even though you are going through much pain, you can find a way to heal again and no matter how much you may go through you can still find that way to heal or bloom. If you do allow yourself to go through pain and learn how to fight your way out of it, you will never learn how to heal so it is a way of teaching yourself that everything will eventually turn out okay.

One of the most important metaphors in the poem is the florist’s note that gives this individual advice and helps highlight the author’s message. In the beginning of the poem this first message starts off as what seems to be positive and a piece of advice that will keep these flowers thriving: “Cut back the stems an inch to keep in bloom.” While this cutting evolves to the flower eventually becoming nothing, the note that was “left” by the florist tells this person “Some things should last forever.” Meaning that this pain that you have endured may have shaped you into the person you are today and what you experienced can help you with many things in your future. Perhaps showing that maybe there are relationships that are meant to last forever, but you have to allow yourself to heal and figure out what’s best for you before maybe jumping back into this relationship again.  While this pain will always be there and will never disappear, you can still fight through this obstacle and learn how to love again, or what the author would say is “bloom.” Towards the end of the poem the author says that eventually you will “lose” this note and will need to “call” the florist: “With sympathy, you’ll think he says. Perhaps: With love.” Conceivably this may mean that you may not be able to hold on to the significance of allowing yourself to heal, but the “florist” is giving you this advice with love and is only meant to help you move forward. You may never know your outcome or steps forward and that it doesn’t matter because the florist has your best interest in mind. You may have even stopped moving forward and you have stopped “bathing.” This ties into another important metaphor portrayed in this text: Venus. 

“Venus was said to turn into a virgin / each time she bathed. She did it / as a mark of love. She did it / so as to please her lovers.” Venus seems to be a portrayal to show the expression of being alone and by yourself or perhaps showing that saying you are turned into a virgin after bathing, represent this new beginning of life and love. While this individual may have bathed several times for this reason, this purpose slowly starts to fade away and she no longer feels this desire to do it anymore. “Perhaps, overwhelmed by pain, she eventually stopped bathing altogether.” This eventually emphasizes that she may not have this strength to move on or find a way to blossom again. She is expressing that instead of trying to please others and her lovers, she needs to find a way to start worrying about her own wants and desires.  

The central themes that surround this poem are quite obvious–love, pain, alleviation. The way that the author articulates these help show the connection she makes between them. It allows the readers to dive deeper into the poem and really uncover the true meaning to better understand her message. Alleviation is the biggest theme and message to show that it’s important to fight over these obstacles in order to start fresh and new. The poem gives this message throughout the poem and in stanza 4-5 it says “It’s a pleasure / to feel the green nubs stripped, watch the stems / refresh under your blade. They’re here / because they’re beautiful. They glow / inside your crystal vase.” I think these lines show that this growth and building up to overcoming your pain is something beautiful that is a long process towards recovering. And then in the last stanza it concludes by saying “You petal, inch by inch. / You turn red and white together.” This is the turning point and highlights the goal of moving forward. The use of Lakoff and Johnson’s metaphorical concepts include: Highlighting and Hiding, The Future is Up/Good is Up and Time is a Valuable Commodity. 

With the concept of Highlighting and Hiding the poem systematically incorporates and blends these symbols and metaphors behind words to grasp another meaning behind them. In Lakoff and Johnson Metaphors We Live By, it says, “The speaker puts ideas (objects) into words (containers) and sends them (along a conduit) to a hearer who takes the idea/objects out of the word/containers…The meaning is right there in the words.” I think these metaphor concepts allow this poem to be interesting and has Lakoff and Johnson mention “can be extended beyond the range of ordinary literal ways of thinking and talking into the range of what is called figurative, poetic, colorful, or fanciful thought and language.” The overall message this poem conveys is all about the pain and alleviation of moving forward towards individual growth. This concept of Highlighting and Hiding, highlights this idea of the obvious of cutting and healing, and although often not quite as obvious, the hiding relates to the idea that with flowers you can only cut so much of the stem, and unlike flowers you can’t do that with people. As an individual you can only endure so much pain and even though this process may not always be occurring or only just temporary there’s only so much that you can do to finally heal yourself to bloom again. That’s what this metaphor hides and that you may not know how long this process may last. The metaphorical concept of The Future is Up and Good is Up, and Foreseeable Future Events are Up, can tie into thinking about what the future holds for you and that everything will eventually get better. This temporary pain will eventually put you somewhere so that you can succeed, be happy, and love all over again. In the poem the author says “Who knew what was cut could heal again, the green wounds close, stitching themselves together?” She also states later on “It’s a pleasure to feel the green nubs stripped, watch the stems refresh under your blade.” I think both of these can circle back to the main point that Lakoff and Johnson make with Future is Up and Good is up. In the same text by Lakoff and Johnson, it states, “These are values deeply embedded in our culture. ‘The future will be better’ is a statement of the concept of process. ‘There will be more in the future.’” The future for you has endless outcomes, but you have to be the one to decide this path and how you progress into it. Allowing these stems to refresh after being cut to allow your growth to progress you into a positive path for your future. 

At the same time I believe that this poem also portrays quite the opposite as well. With the idea of the flowers being so cut down to the point where there will be nothing left, you can imply that once these flowers begin to become shorter, that they are not the ones doing the blooming, but they are allowing for more growth and the blooming is meant to portray the individual. The metaphor of “Future is Down and Good is Down” can relate to this. Some words in the poem that can possibly relate to this would be the negative symbolism to describe this pain and problems for new growth: “wounds,” “wither,” “painful,” “cut,” “overwhelmed,” “blacken,” etc. The use of these works to symbolize the author’s message shows that your future is down because often this pain may last forever. However, sometimes good is down and that although this pain may be unbearable now, it will help you find that strength and courage to become the person you want to be.

I think you can even tie in the concept of Time Is a Valuable Commodity. Rekdal states, what I mentioned earlier,  “But what is the point of pain if it heals? Some things should last forever.” This connects to the idea of reflecting on this time as something that can be seen as something that has given you valuable insights about life and has taught you things after you experienced it. Although so may say what is the point of this or what is the point of “cutting the stems” if pain eventually heals. Lakoff and Johnson reveal that time is a resource that we use to accomplish our goals and we can connect that to understand that we have to use this time as a valuable time to heal and understand that this path that you have gone through, is all part of the plan to bloom again. “Who knew what was cut could heal again, the green wounds close, stitching themselves together? It doesn’t matter.” This is still an important process to undergo to finally be able to let yourself go to look for a better life of love. Some things don’t need to last forever and you can always find a way to repair that pain.“Alone, you sit before the crystal vase refracting you in pieces through the dark. You watch the pale skill bloom inside it, wither…”  Lakoff and Johnson state that time is something valuable and that it can be something that can be lost, given away, or even something that others can thank for. This individual can reflect on the way in which this relationship has caused them pain and use it as a way to learn from the experience. 

The poem’s form overall connects to its language and themes and helps reinforce the poem’s content through its design. The repetition of the words Rekdal uses such as cut, stems, heal, bloom and flowers helps to emphasize the major themes of the poem with pain and alleviation: “Cut back the stems an inch to keep in bloom,” “Who knew what was cut can heal again,” “Separate each bloom and cut,” “Watch the stems refresh,”  “Even cut stems heal,” “What is the point of pain if it heals,” etc. This helps reinforce the content to better understand the important emotional connection the author is trying to weave throughout the poem. The theme connects to something in life that I would believe to be extremely meaningful, and to others as well. This points to the connection that I made through this poem through life in general and the amount of pain that some can endure when experiencing any type of breakup or a divorce. The impact that this relationship has on an individual and the process that people have to go through in order to overcome that and be happy again. Many people go through these breakups and divorces to overcome or find a way to finally release the pain of this loss that they have experienced or potentially find a way to discover a new identity for themselves. This a natural thing that will happen to almost anyone in life and the way in which you approach your healing process, will show your strength and who you are as a person. 

What drew me into this poem and why I became fond of it was due to the amount of symbolism and metaphorical imagery that the author uses. I thought it was a really unique way to express the pain of a divorce and wording it in the way that she does. It was interesting that as i was reading this, I felt an emotional connection that the author seems to be looking for as the readers read through the poem. “Even cut stems heal. But what is the point of pain if it heals?” This quote helps show the overall message of this poem and that it is a really powerful way of saying that yes pain is something that everyone does not want to experience, but this pain could help shape who you are in the future and that no matter what you can still find your truest potential towards love again.