Roses
by Mary Oliver
Everyone now and again wonders about
those questions that have no ready
answers: first cause, God's existence,
what happens when the curtain goes
down and nothing stops it, not kissing,
not going to the mall, not the Super
Bowl.
"Wild roses," I said to them one morning.
"Do you have the answers? And if you do,
would you tell me?"
The roses laughed softly. "Forgive us,"
they said. "But as you can see, we are
just now entirely busy being roses."
I love the image of the wild roses, of them laughing and talking. Their answer is so good - "entirely busy being roses."
There's one part that I don't understand. Where it says "what happens when the curtain goes / down and nothing stops it, not kissing, / not going to the mall, not the Super / Bowl." I think that the part about the curtain going down is one in the list of "questions that have no ready answer," like "first cause" and "God's existence." Then it seems like the phrases about not kissing and the mall and Super Bowl would be things that don't stop the curtain from going down.
But that's what I don't get. What do those actions (kissing, going to the mall and the Super Bowl) have to do with stopping the curtain going down, with stopping one of the hard questions to answer?
Maybe she's saying actions of that kind don't stop life from continuing on to death (death being the curtain going down)? Not understanding doesn't take away how much I like this poem, but it does make me curious.
Any thoughts?
4 comments:
No answer for you. Just busy being me and living my life to worry about it. :)
Mavis, I read it more like this:
Everyone now and again wonders about those questions that have no ready answers:
1. first cause,
2. God's existence,
3. what happens when the curtain goes down and nothing stops it,
4. not kissing,
5. not going to the mall,
6. not the Super Bowl.
I thought she was asking maybe, "Why not kiss if kissing is called for?" "What would life be like if one didn't go to the mall?" "Why not watch the Super Bowl, or What if there was no Super Bowl?"
With "the curtain goes down and nothing stops it," I pictured in my mind how in theaters the curtain comes down, and it does seem as though it comes down, hits the stage and then sort of bounces up so that the bottom just brushes the stage. I thought she was wondering what if it just kept coming down? Then you would have a heap of curtain with the scene and actors standing behind, exposed, when they expected to be hidden.
I like the answer of the roses and of Barb DeKruyf. :-)
I love your answer, Barbie! And very good thoughts, Jan. It seems more logical that the entire list is questions that have no ready answers. I never thought about that meaning of the curtain going down with nothing stopping it. You're good.
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