Picking Flowers
by Nate Marshall
The Poem
“Picking Flowers” by Nate Marshall is a bouquet of comparisons—similes, metaphors, and loose connections. The interplay of these comparisons throughout the poem leads to its denouement: two lines made strong by their contrast—surety juxtaposed by uncertainty.
But it’s the similes and metaphors blooming on nearly every line that lead us there:
“dandelions all over the park putting on / Latin King gold like the Chicano cats / over east before they turn into a puff / of smoke like all us colored boys”
“i have a bouquet in my hand, / laid on 1 of my arms like a shotgun.”
“the color is brilliant, a gang war / wrapped & cut diagonal at the stems.”
The effect, then, is concrete imagery—roses, wildflowers, dandelions, bouquets—signifying a life seemingly lived alongside violence and heartbreak. But the presence of the concrete lends little certainty to the speaker, as he ends with an implied invitation for the reader to disentangle, or at least attempt to disentangle, the relationship between mourning and love.
So here’s to Marshall, and here’s to the violent, beautiful complicatedness of our lives.
Its Colors
With each poem we share, we ask Claude 3 (Sonnet) to generate a palette of five colors that embody the poem’s content and mood. Claude shares its color choices with us via hexadecimal codes, and we share them with you via the palette at the top of the post. Here’s Claude’s explanation for today’s colors:
#B30000 - A deep crimson red, representing the gang colors (Vice Lords) and violence referenced in the poem
#0072BB - A rich blue shade, representing the "Gangster Disciple style blue" mentioned in the poem
#FCD667 - A vibrant golden yellow, representing the "Latin King gold" and the dandelions referenced
#8B6508 - A deep mustard yellow, representing the bitterness and ruined hands from picking dandelions
#D2B48C - A muted tan color, representing the idea of something turning into smoke or being fleeting
This palette aims to capture the urban, gang-related imagery, as well as the natural elements like flowers and dandelions. The colors range from vivid and bold to muted and earthy, reflecting the contrasting tones and themes present in the poem.
Things to Notice
As described above, if you’re interested in exploring Marshall’s technique, you’ll likely want to start by examining his use of simile and metaphor and how those comparisons extend meaning throughout the poem (more on that in a moment). Beyond Marshall’s use of comparisons, though, the poem holds two more well-placed surprises:
Juxtaposition of beauty against violence and surety against uncertainty (flower imagery to depict gangs and declarative statements and the end of the poem followed by a statement of confusion)
The use of bullet points to break the poem’s form (creating a visually and rhythmically jarring effect)
Of course, the poem largely stands on its similes and metaphors, and the continuation of meaning borne by those comparisons deepens the poem as it progresses. At the beginning, Marshall clearly establishes a connection between flowers and gangs followed by an allusion to violence and death (dandelions turning “into a puff of smoke like all us colored boys”). This comparison is heightened by the lines that follow: “picking dandelions will ruin your hands, / turn their smell into a bitter cologne.” In other words, participating in the violence will “ruin your hands,” or strip them of their innocence.
If this metaphor is extended into the bullet points, Marshall seems to imply that there are only three reasons why one might choose violence when considering its consequences:
Love
Grief
Profit
Consequently, when the speaker states in the final stanza that he is holding a bouquet of flowers—that he too has picked flowers—we’re left to wonder which of the three reasons led him there. He quickly eliminates the idea that he is a “flower salesman,” or profits from the violence in some way, leaving us to weigh whether he is in love, in mourning, or if both are inseparable.
That said, the power of poetry lies in the questions it provokes, and “Picking Flowers” elicits a few:
What are we to make of the fact that flowers are generally given to someone, as they are in the poem? Is Marshall implying that violence is generally carried out for someone else’s sake?
Who is the woman in the final stanza? What might be her significance if the speaker is presumably bringing her a bouquet?
The strength of the flower metaphor lies in its various meanings. Flowers are given as signs of affection, but they are also given to share condolences. Are those two reasons intermingled in the final stanza, and, if so, why?
As always, if you stumble across something brilliant, or if you have a question that lingers with you, leave us a comment. We’d love to hear from you.
Classroom Context
This poem serves as a clear, powerful on-ramp for discussing metaphor, and extended metaphor, with students. Because Marshall creates such a clear distinction between flowers (or the picking of flowers) and violence, it’s easy for students to carry that connection through the entire poem and interpret a range of meanings from the poem’s final stanza. In this way, the poem can be used as an effective scaffold for more complex texts.
Additionally, though, the poem is different enough in its content to spark interest if for no other reason than its novelty. Students want to figure it out because it’s so obviously laden with a storyline not often found in the poems read in many English classrooms (unfortunately). That in and of itself has the potential to spark engagement. More than novelty, though, the storyline also bears an important question regarding the speaker’s innocence. If he too has picked flowers, can or should we connect with him? Do we connect with him? And if we do, what about the way he has told his story created that connection? These questions tend to ignite productive debate that segue into powerful conversations about what it means to be innocent and who is and isn’t deserving of empathy.
In short, “Picking Flowers” is a poem for teaching that a phrase, as Whitman might say, can “contain multitudes” and for enlivening students’s interest. It’s a poem for grappling with sorrow and love. It’s a poem for interrogating the complicatedness we see in ourselves and each other.