Poetry Response #2

Mycah Mattox
Ms. Locano
AP Lit- 4
25 September 2016

The Smell of Wilted Roses

In the poem "Ending" by Gavin Ewart, he explores the exhilarating spark of love going out eventually in a relationship. We are all victims of time, nothing is ever the same in one moment or the next. A rose will wilt as soon as it's plucked resulting in a painstakingly beautiful death. A death that is enjoyed until the rose becomes ugly and meaningless. The love that one may have felt growing wildly can disperse gradually without them ever noticing.

 I really like this poem because of how simplistic it is. The speaker has realized they have fallen out of love. The tone is resigned, but nostalgic of all the moments that were spent in love. In lines 11-14, the speaker says. "The parts that then transmitted joy / are now reserved cold and coy. / Romance, expected once to stay, / has left a note saying GONE AWAY." Ewart beautifully examines the intimate parts of a relationship with a lovely rhyming scheme that almost distracts the audience from the fact he's talking about loss of excitement with a significant other. 

This poem reminds me of the poem "Storm Warnings" by Adrienne Rich, that we read in class. The speakers in both works are talking about the grey area that will eventually come with falling in love. You would think that love should be glamorous, eternal and flawless in its entirety, but the harsh reality is that, like love, in time, the most divine rose will become dull and lifeless in its immaculate vase.