“The flower” by Robert Creeley is a very powerful poem to me. Thousands of ideas flew through my mind when I read it over and over. The poet is comparing his painful thoughts to a flower in this poem. It was definitely effective for me.
I was interested in this poem because it reflects my own way of thinking also. In general he is basically trying to tell the reader that we shouldn’t hide our problems and be ashamed of them. He advises us to refrain from holding back whatever is causing us pain because that doesn’t ever make situations better.
The first line begins with him thinking he grows tensions like flowers. When I think of tension I think of something being held back to cause the pain. Whether it’s tension between two human beings that can’t resolve a fight or tension in a shoulder muscle because it needs to be massaged out. Tension is caused by a negative source being bottled up. We obviously learn right away that he doesn’t condone bottling up emotions.
He ends the first stanza by saying in a wood where nobody goes. I think by that he’s referring to the fact that it goes into a part of his thoughts that he doesn’t talk about. It clearly isn’t a happy or joyful thought, it must be something deep and dark. I came to that conclusion because the section of the woods where usually “nobody goes” is described as the deep and dark part. The trees are so plentiful that its dark even in the middle of the day. When I think of it being deep I think about how it’s so far in that it becomes difficult to get out. It’s scary because you could get to a point where you become so lost that you can run and yell and whatever else but you still aren’t really getting anywhere.
The next line says that each wound is perfect, encloses itself in a tiny imperceptible blossom making pain. By that I infer that each painful event, thought or memory… whatever it could be… tucks itself deep in his thoughts. The thought of the wound enclosing itself...