Denise Duhamel — How It Will End

March 3, 2025·17 min·1 clip

Pádraig Ó Tuama explains how a silent fight between strangers exposes a married couple's own unresolved arguments.

Host Pádraig Ó Tuama explores Denise Duhamel's poem "How It Will End," which depicts a married couple observing and arguing about a lifeguard and his girlfriend fighting on a boardwalk. Ó Tuama, a poet and theologian, frames the episode around how unresolved stories and poems linger powerfully within us. The poem itself is narrated by a speaker who, alongside her husband, watches a silent argument they cannot hear, inventing details about the struggling couple. The observing wife believes the lifeguard has done "something really bad," while her husband jokes that the lifeguard is "in for it." Their own disagreement begins as they speculate whether the lifeguard cheated, works only part-time, or forgot to pay rent. The wife compares the girlfriend's defensive gesture to Diana Ross performing "Stop! In the Name of Love," while a red flag signaling strong currents slaps against the lifeguard's station. The couple's observation escalates into a full-blown argument, with the wife accusing the husband of finding every fight funny and never taking women seriously. The husband retorts that the wife is "always nagging" and never gives the man a chance, questioning how he can distinguish "real issues from the nitpicking." Their fight expands as they invent entire backstories, with the wife claiming the girlfriend is a waitress harassed by "creepy tourists" while the lifeguard lazily naps. The husband counters that the waitress flirts for tips, giving "extra large pieces of pie." Suddenly, the observed couple reconciles, with the girlfriend crying on the lifeguard's shoulder before he carries her into his hut, leaving the observers to realize "no one is watching us." Ó Tuama highlights how the poem functions as a "silent movie" that invites massive projection from the observers and the readers. He analyzes the 255-word run-on sentence where the married couple's fight escalates, noting its "breathless" energy that mixes aggression with something potentially erotic. The poem deliberately blurs pronouns, making it momentarily confusing whether "he" refers to the husband or the lifeguard, suggesting the strangers carry the observers' own unresolved tensions. The deflation of the red flag, which "flutters then hangs limp," is presented as a clear phallic symbol, tying the conflict to themes of sex and satisfaction. Ó Tuama questions whether the arguing couple derives pleasure from rehearsing old grievances, asking if fighting sometimes replaces sex. He posits that people often need an external drama, like this public argument, to "release some steam" about their own relationships. The episode’s tone is conversational, educational, and deeply analytical, treating the poem as a layered artifact to be unpacked. Ó Tuama’s style is engaging and thoughtful, often speaking directly to the listener to include them in the act of interpretation. Listeners who enjoy dissecting the mechanics of poetry and exploring human psychology through art will love this episode. Anyone seeking a straightforward narrative or light entertainment might find its analytical depth less appealing.

As heard by us

A beach quarrel becomes a lesson in how watching turns into projection.

Denise Duhamel's "How It Will End" turns a beachside argument into a close study of watching. A lifeguard, his girlfriend, a bench, and the speaker with her husband keep guessing at what is happening, and the poem never fully lets them know.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a poem that turns a boardwalk fight into a sharper look at how watching changes what you think you know.

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