Thanks For Remembering Us

Dana Gioia

The flowers sent here by mistake,
signed with a name that no one knew,
are turning bad. What shall we do?
Our neighbor says they're not for her,
and no one has a birthday near.
We should thank someone for the blunder.
Is one of us having an affair?
At first we laugh, and then we wonder.

The iris was the first to die,
enshrouded in its sickly-sweet
and lingering perfume. The roses
fell one petal at a time,
and now the ferns are turning dry.
The room smells like a funeral,
but there they sit, too much at home,
accusing us of some small crime,
like love forgotten, and we can't
throw out a gift we've never owned.

Reaction: 

I liked this poem for its almost funny tone. The author seemed to be confused about who sent the flowers but also joked about it and acted like it was no big deal. The way he describes the way the house smelt made the mood go back to serious because he said it smelt like a funeral.

Meaning:

I think the author wanted to tell his audience that you can't trust anyone, not even your spouse. He ays how even though they both seem to brush the flowers off, they both wonder if their partner is having an affair. The trust they seemed to have for one another is starting to fade because of these flowers sent to no one. The way he described the flowers could be another way of saying that each time a flower died another day died with it. 

Technique:

He used imagery to describe the look of the flowers as they died, this made you see the vase of dead flowers. Also his use of metaphors gave the reader an insight as to the way things really were, you could smell the room as you read his line. He did rhyme some line but not others.