Text: The Poison of the Blue Rose By: Yazmin Marri
Prompt: Journal #14 Response to Motifs/Themes (Silence and Poison)
Silence. Like water funnelling into an ocean, never satisfied with what it has. Flowers that bloom to impress the gods up above, they will never speak, just watch. -Silence. A shadow that's purpose is suffocation of the sun's last ray of light. The poison that engulfs our life, my life. -Silence. Darkness; so powerful it drowns those who look, touch, hear -silence. Silver tears drained from the moon's rigged dips and craters; they look to escape their pooling tear ducts. Nothing but -silence. Ruins of what was once so fragile, now destroyed. Platforms of life, once so vibrant, crowded. Nothing found. Nothing heard. -Silence. Get off at the next stop. Subconsciously dormant in a jail cell of shadows. Tears. Deafening -silence. Admire what is left of your light, reflecting what's past. Poisoned by regret. Poisoned by darkness. Poisoned by -silence. ~ Alia C.
The Poison of the Blue Rose Summary
In the short story The Poison of the Blue Rose By: Yazmin Marri, we hear of a story told through the eyes of regret. The narrator is displayed as a traditional and quiet Pakistani woman, whose life appears settled. We see her interact and reminisce in the past that created the life she has now as she tries to help her friend, and son’s teacher, Gulab Bibi face the fears she never could when it came to marriage. Gulab Bibi puts faith in the narrator as she shows love letters sent to her from the man she truly loves, Rafiq. Gulab expresses deep sorrow as she explains that she can never be happy with him due to already being betrothed with another man. The narrator is especially empathetic toward Gulab Bibi as she relates to the agony her friend is experiencing. The narrator opens up with Gulab to express similar troubles she once felt after being betrothed to a man that was not her true love. To the narrator this pain was a memory, the memory of her Ranji. Ranji was the narrator’s biggest life regret as she explains that she was never able to marry him due to the chains of betrothal brought down by her parents. We see the evolution of the narrator as she tries to almost fix her regrets
through Gulab by telling her that she will marry Rafiq. In this moment of the short story, we truly see the narrator come out of her silence to warn Gulab of the possible regrets she may obtain from not speaking up and letting her fate be decided for her. The narrator uses silence as her defense mechanism to forget the past and move on, but because of the experiences faced by Gulab she is forced to think back on her regrets and make sense of them by helping her friend. The idea of train platforms is used as a symbol of our life through the eyes of the narrator. She describes the stops on the platform as moments and memories of our life. It is until we get back on the train that we can move on and try to forget those we left behind. To end off this short story, we encounter the symbolism beneath what the narrator describes as the blue rose. She explains that the roses are individuals poisoned by love that they cannot pursue including Gulab, Rafiq, Ranji, and herself. The narrator explains that the blue rose is filled with poison, and is yet still desired which brings importance and irony to her symbolism. The rose is set to bloom anywhere and at any time every 100 years, and is later described to be found within “every city, every community, from this corner of the world to the other” as she notices that blue roses surround her life.
Fear of the unknown; fear of the silence
After reading this short story I really found myself inspired, questioning and acknowledging my life and view of silence. I decided to write this poem in the eyes of the narrator in order to recreate these emotions and experiences that she’d faced in her life. This poem is just a small sliver of what silence truly feels like and uses imagery to enhance the reader’s understanding of the true pain it brings upon their conscience. The poem uses parallelism, repetition, and pauses to emphasize the poisoning feelings that we face when we don’t speak up, much like the narrator in the story. I used different aspects of the earth such as the ocean, flowers, moon, and sun to present contrasting views and ideas between the beauty and the poisoned pain of silence. I made sure to choose the words in this poem very carefully in order to reach that connection within the viewers 
mind in efforts to enlighten them of this ignored aspect of life. I really found myself coming back to the symbol and idea of train platforms presented by the narrator of the short story, continuously. In response, I made sure to integrate this symbol into my poem to show its importance to the idea of the story regarding past loves and experiences left behind in silence. The fear of the unknown is real; it is in religion, sports, and in general -life. What we don’t realize is that it is actually the silence that we fear the most; the absence of an answer to our questions is what we avoid and regret as it consumes us and takes over our lives. In this poem I hoped to capture the emotions this silence instills within us, as we willingly invite this poison to cloud our dreams and leave them behind at the platform of life.
Alia,
The poem you wrote was a marvelous piece of writing, truly capturing the emotions one feels when in conflict with their feelings and social expectations. I especially enjoyed the insight you provided at the end, “What we don’t realize is that it is actually the silence that we fear the most; the absence of an answer to our questions is what we avoid and regret as it consumes us and takes over our lives.” Very thought-provoking and made me reflect on my own silence.
I understand that your take on this specific assignment was more of a personal response, but since your response was catered to a specific text, maybe you could input some insight on some of the metaphors within the story. For instance, you mentioned the appearance of the blue rose. “The narrator explains that the blue rose is filled with poison, and is yet still desired which brings importance and irony to her symbolism.” I would have appreciated some more elaboration to the blue rose and why it was significant to your response.
All in all, your writing clearly demonstrates how well you connect to the text. One thing that stood out to me in your poem was the repetition of the dash before the word silence. In class you mentioned that syntax is important to you in your writing; what do the dashes mean? Besides that, really loved your work and I am looking forward to ready more of your writing in the future!
Sincerely,
Abeer
Dear Abeer,
Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment it was great to hear that you were able to connect to this piece!
I completely agree that incorporating a greater understanding of the blue rose would have helped carry out my idea better. I believe that if I focused more on the symbolism of that, it could really add to the explanation of the story and my poem. The dashes before the word silence ,to me, exaggerate the sophistication and meaning of the word itself to the reader. Each dash in this piece help to almost make the reader feel the silence that is being expressed throughout the poem! Thank you again for taking the time to read my piece and thank you for the critiques!
Sincerely,
Alia:)