Poetry Thursday - Flowers by Wendy Cope

Flowers

Some men never think of it.
You did. You’d come along
And say you’d nearly brought me flowers
But something had gone wrong.

The shop was closed. Or you had doubts —
The sort that minds like ours
Dream up incessantly. You thought
I might not want your flowers.

It made me smile and hug you then.
Now I can only smile.
But, look, the flowers you nearly brought
Have lasted all this while.

- Wendy Cope (via)

Published in "Serious Concerns" (Faber, 1992), this poem is one of a series looking wryly at lost love(s). Here's another -

Loss

The day he moved out was terrible -

That evening she went through hell.

His absence wasn't a problem

But the corkscrew had gone as well.

"Many of her poems have a tragic twist at the end,"says an interview torn form an unknown, undated magazine that I found tucked into my copy of the book, "but as with all good comedy, tragedy is at its core."

She says here poems are deeply felt "and just because they've got jokes in the, it seems to me, they shouldn't be dismissed as light verse." The volume addresses a range of concerns, from death and pain to poets and games. 

Her poems can help you to confront and laugh at problems, and especially relationships. Sometimes a person needs that sort of thing...